War
by LizzeXX
Summary: Thor/OC - Thor and Athena, his partner in all senses, have been sent to Earth to take Loki and stop the Tesseract's activation. However there is more at work than they realize and more at risk than Thor knows. Upon reaching Earth they discover they are not the only ones after Loki. What will happen in the Battle of New York? What is Athena hiding? Second in the Heroic Hymns.
1. A Deadly Mission

A/N: Hey there! :) This is my second Thor series, my first Thor/OC, and is the **second story** in the Heroic Hymns, War :) The first story (Humility) is listed under the THOR section of this site while this story is under the Avengers as it follows the sequence of movies in the Thor series. As fair warning, this will NOT be a Jane/Thor story or a Thor/Sif story. This series will be my attempt to incorporate an original character into the Avengers movie. This story will be based around the movie but will also include some original scenes :) This story will be about 10 chapters long, updated daily :)

A short description of my OC, Athena: She is a tall woman, pale, with blonde hair that is a bit long, with gray eyes. She tends to wear this half up, half down, but with a bun in the top half. Her bun has a small stick in it that Thor gave her that is really a very delicate dagger. She tends to wear brown leather armor, a breastplate from her brother, with a coin necklace under it. She has a charm bracelet made by her siblings that she doesn't wear often. For a reference, I picture the OC, Athena, to look something like Rosamund Pike :)

I hope you enjoy :)

~8~ is a scene break

Disclaimer...I don't own Thor or the Avengers or things from the movie/comic, just my OC and some original aspects...or else I'd have enough money for a replica Mjolnir lol :)

~8~

A Deadly Mission

_The room was a blinding white and blue, light blue, and green. It was a courtyard, white pillars and walls surrounded it, with emerald green grass on the ground and an open area above through which the blue sky and white clouds could be seen. That was the only color to be seen in the surrounding area, but that wasn't the only thing there. While the space was empty of any other items, there were two people standing within it._

_One dark haired, the other golden haired._

_One a man, and the other a woman._

_The woman blinked, seeming almost startled to be standing there, her body covered in white cloth with gold accents and sandals, while the man was dressed similarly, smiling at her widely, "It worked," he beamed, before rushing to the woman's side and hugging her tightly._

_"I don't understand," the woman shook her head, hugging him just as closely but stepping back a moment later, her hands on the man's elbows as he kept hold of her._

_"We have been trying to contact you," the man stated._

_"Yes," she smiled, reaching up to touch her temple, "I had guessed that."_

_Well, SHE hadn't quite guessed it, not really, a woman wiser than she had guessed what her persistent and increasingly terrible headaches had meant and endeavored to help her find a solution to them. It appeared both sides had been aiming for the same goal, communication._

_She looked at the man before her and reached up to touch his cheek. He hadn't aged a day, but that was to be expected, they had quite long lives, but she hadn't seen him in so long it almost felt like he should look older. It both broke and warmed her heart to see it though. Because he looked the same and, for one brief moment she could pretend that no time had passed at all, that she hadn't been away from him and the others for centuries, but at the same time…it was just a reminder that centuries had passed, that centuries more could still pass and she wouldn't be any wiser about it. That was the curse with the longevity they held, time nearly stood still for them and, in the blink of an eye, a millennia could pass and they'd show no sign of the time._

_She frowned, seeing the seriousness in his face, something she was unaccustomed to on the man before her, he was usually so carefree and easygoing, to see a fierceness in his eyes, a protectiveness, and a fear…it worried her, "What is wrong?" she asked, "Why were you trying to earnestly to contact me?"_

_"Besides the fact that all our connections to you vanished in an instant?" he scoffed at that and she could hear a bitterness in his voice, "Besides none of us knowing if you were alive or not save for uncle not having seen you in his realm?"_

_She winced at that and looked down, "I am sorry," she breathed, "I had no time to warn you. It was a decision to be made in mere moments, a decision that had to be made to prevent the destruction of the realms…"_

_"We know," he sighed, swallowing hard, "All the realms felt the balance shifting."_

_"It is being rebuilt though," she promised, "I will see you all soon, as soon as all is repaired."_

_"We are working on rebuilding on our side as well," he agreed, "Perhaps we shall see each other sooner than we believe."_

_"Besides appearing here," she looked around, not entirely sure where they actually were. She was sure she hadn't been away THAT long that she wouldn't recognize a place but it appeared to be just a generic creation, "In our dreams," she turned back to him._

_"Besides here," he nodded, "This world doesn't exist," he added, though he knew she'd already worked that out, "It is a bridge between dreams, one that transcends the realms."_

_"I worked that out thanks," she laughed, smiling at him, it had to be a dream, and not just because she could remember quite clearly falling into a trance like sleep under potion and supervision after hours and hours and days and weeks and months of preparation and practice and focus and training for such a thing._

_Magic was not her forte._

_It wasn't that she could remember going to sleep, falling to unconsciousness with the intent to try and reach out with her dreams. No, it wasn't that…_

_It was because she was wearing a gown!_

_"You know I hate these things," she tugged at the cloth near her hip, stretching the fabric out and letting it snap back into place before giving the man a mock glare as he laughed at her._

_"Think of it as punishment for scaring us," he shrugged easily._

_She let out a long breath, "Why am I here though?" she asked, knowing that they would NOT have risked what they were doing to contact her if it was not for the most dire of circumstances, "What is wrong? What's happened?"_

_"It is not what HAS happened," he frowned, "But what SHALL happen."_

_Her expression dropped even more as she reached out a hand for his, "What did you see?"_

_The man bit his lip, a sure sign that what he'd glimpsed in his visions of the future was not something to be taken lightly, was not something enjoyable and…she was sure…was something likely to cause her an enormous amount of heart break or pain if his expression was one to go on. He never liked sharing news that brought pain to those around him. Oh at first, when he'd been younger and just exploring his gift, he had been a brat, he had used it to his advantage, he'd used it to manipulate those around him, he'd even been known to cause a war or two from his foresight. But he'd matured with age, when he saw how fragile the bonds between all of them were, he'd matured and now the thought of any vision that caused them harm was one he was unwilling to share._

_"Tell me," she whispered, urging him to do that, she had to know. They would not have risked contacting her in such a manner if it wasn't something that involved her directly._

_"A war is coming," he warned, "A battle…in another realm."_

_"What sort of battle?" she shook her head, needing to know more._

_"I cannot say," he let out a frustrated noise and she knew from the sound of it he had pushed himself to see more, to learn all he could about it and the fact that he was so frustrated meant he hadn't been able to see as much as he wanted or that he didn't understand what he had seen, "There is a land, of tall buildings, gray and metal and glass. There are people, mortals, in…" he shook his head, "Clothing I have never seen before with metal boxes on wheels and metal birds in the sky," he let out another breath, "A storm appears in the sky and…creatures…pour out of it. There is battle and war and blood, destruction and fires and death, screaming and trembling and anger."_

_She tilted her head, watching his expression closely as he looked down, his eyes becoming distant as he tried to recall all that he had seen. She knew that his visions were snippets at time, bits and pieces he tried to string together into some sort of fluid line and that it was best to allow his mind to work out what it was seeing._

_"There is a man," he continued, "A dark haired man, dressed in black and green. But…at the same time he is not a man. I see a flicker, a man as ordinary as you or I and the next…blue skinned and red eyed and harsh."_

_"Go on," she encouraged him lightly, understanding what he was saying, WHO he was talking about even if he didn't know._

_"He holds a magic box, a box that glows white and light blue," he spoke haltingly and she knew he was nearing the end of what he'd seen, "And a scepter with an orb of the same. It…it ensnares men like the Sirens of old, controls them, bends their will to his. He will open a portal and the city of York will fall if he is not stopped," he looked up suddenly, right into her eyes, "I saw YOU," he told her, tears in his eyes now, "I saw you before this man in a room with a glass cage in it and he…he was torturing you, he was killing you. He DID kill you," he voice broke and she quickly pulled him into her arms, comforting him as she heard that crack._

_"No one shall kill me," she murmured in his ear, rubbing his back soothingly, "I do believe there is a line just within our family of people who should have the pleasure first," she joked, earning a laugh from him at that. Theirs was truly a…complicated family if they could so easily speak of how they would all likely murder each other at one point or another but still know it wouldn't actually happen._

_He pulled away and looked into her gray eyes, his own blue eyes sparkling with unshed tears, "Promise me you will be careful," he whispered, "We cannot help you, you will be alone…"_

_"I won't be," she smiled at him, "I have friends where I am, I have made a new life, I…" she hesitated, "I've…"_

_"Found love?" he supplied with a knowing grin, laughing when she shot him a horrified look that he knew, for if HE knew then their entire family knew, "You cannot expect you-know-who to keep her mouth shut when she sensed you were in love. She knew it before you did. Could you tell me though when you admitted it, we've drawn bets on it and…"_

_She reached out and punched him in the shoulder for that, "I've found love," she admitted, "And he won't let anyone harm me. I give you my word on that. We…are a team, we work well together. He would never let me come to harm."_

_"We shall be the judge of whether or not he be worthy of you," he warned, "But if he succeeds in protecting you as you do him…we may be more lenient in our considerations."_

_She smiled at that and shook her head, "Please tell me father doesn't know."_

_His smirk was answer enough._

_"Wonderful."_

_He laughed at that, "You know he will worry," he told her, "You are his first-born, his only-born and this…man-child," she rolled her eyes at that, "He is the first man you have ever shown an interest in. He WILL be protective, we all will."_

_She nodded, "I know," she looked at him, seeing him starting to fade right in front of her, "Thank you for your warning. I will take it to heart and I will be vigilant."_

_He nodded, seeming to sense that their time together was drawing to a close as well and reached out to touch her cheek, "We shall see you again, one day."_

_She only had time to offer him one more smile and a brief nod before she felt the world around her go black..._

~8~

...Athena's eyes snapped open before she winced and closed them again, bringing her hands to her eyes to cover them from the light. It was night where she was, there were only a few candles burning around her, but it was still too bright.

"Here," she heard the voice of her mentor speak and felt gentle hands helping her sit up, "Take this."

A goblet of potion was held in front of her and she took it without hesitation, drinking down the foul substance with a grimace, "This is terrible," she croaked out, her voice feeling harsh as she looked up at Frigga moving to sit beside her on the cot that had been put in the small room.

"It is," the Queen of Asgard smiled at her, reaching out to brush a hand down Athena's long golden hair, "But it will help with the after effects of the trance."

Athena nodded, setting the goblet aside, already feeling her eyes adjusting, the pounding in her head abating and the twisting of her stomach settling, "Thank you."

Frigga nodded, "Did it work?" she asked.

Athena paused to think on that, her head still a little foggy from the trance…dream…dream-trance? That she had experienced. The last few months she had been plagued with a persistent headache. First it was just a dull throb but periodically it was getting worse. She hadn't been able to sleep, she kept feeling like there was someone watching her and shouting out to her but she couldn't see, and it felt like her mind was being split in two. She'd hidden it as best she could from Thor and the others, but she'd spoken to Frigga about it. She had been to the healers and there was no sign of anything physically or mentally wrong with her so she'd thought, perhaps, it was magic.

And magic it was.

Frigga had known, within describing her symptoms just what was happening and began the process of helping her. Someone was trying to invade her dreams, to make contact with her in the part of her mind that was unprotected. It could be done with magic, but it shouldn't have been lasting so long or been so affecting to her…unless it was coming across realms, and with the Bifrost destroyed and work only slightly done on it, there would be only one method of contacting her…her dreams.

She knew, the moment Frigga mentioned it was a message being sent in her dreams, whose magic it was that was reaching out to her from somewhere else. But she had no idea how to open the connection from her side. So Frigga had taken it upon herself to teach her how to open her mind. She had taught her enough basics of magic, enough meditation, and mixed the proper potions for the connection to open and to allow her to speak to the person reaching out to her.

"It was my brother," she breathed.

"They must be worried for you," Frigga murmured, she and Odin knowing all about her family that she had left to become a warrior of Asgard.

"They are," she nodded, "But not because of recent events," she added, glancing at her, "Loki…" she began, wincing as Frigga inhaled sharply at that, knowing that it was hard for the woman to hear about her lost son, they had been searching for him, on her request, because if he'd only fallen into the abyss then there was a chance that he was still alive, but there had been no proof yet, no evidence that he was, till now, "He's alive."

"He is?" Frigga breathed, tears filling her eyes as she put a hand to her mouth.

"But…" she hesitated and Frigga took her hand in encouragement to continue, "He's after the Tesseract."

"It survived?" Frigga stared at her, the Tesseract had long since been lost to them.

She nodded, "My brother is a prophet, a…seer," she offered, "It was why he was so insistent to contact me. He had a vision of Loki with the Tesseract. He…he'll use it to open some sort of portal on Earth and release creatures upon the mortals to wage a war. He saw…he saw me there."

Frigga frowned at the tone of her voice at that, "Not Thor?"

"I assume Thor is there," she murmured, "I…would not go without him."

Frigga had to smile at that, she had noticed a closeness in her son and Athena that had, admittedly, always been there, but had grown even stronger since Thor had returned to them after being exiled. The two were rarely away from each other for long. Truly if it hadn't been for Odin insisting on private lessons and discussions with Thor about the proper way to rule Asgard, she doubted she would have had enough time alone with Athena to help her with this small task of taking care of her headaches if not for her husband.

She had noticed a small decline in, what Thor liked to call, his 'verbal sparring' with Athena and more an actual conversation forming between them which was heartwarming to see. She knew her son was rather closed off when it came to expressing his fears or doubts to anyone, especially to her or Odin as he never wanted to appear like he couldn't handle himself. It was the same for him around the Warriors Three and Sif, he wanted to be seen as the leader not someone who doubted his choices. She was sure that, at first, it had been Athena's role as a potential advisor that had made Thor feel more comfortable speaking to her, similarly to how Odin spoke to HER, but it had progressed from there. Thor spoke to Athena less like she was his future advisor and more like his future…well, she had to smile at that, she couldn't say it out loud or think it, she didn't want to jinx her son's happiness. But…Athena reminded her very much of herself.

There had also been another slight change in their dynamic, namely in their physical interactions as well. There was an intimacy between them now. They walked closer to each other than normal, stepping through doors Thor would guide her with a light hand to her back, he pulled chairs out for her to sit first. There were small things really, little things only a mother would notice. A light hand on Thor's arm, a gentle touch to the face, a brush of the arm, so small but actions that spoke more than a thousand words to her keen eyes. And when they sparred, especially when they wrestled, it was amusing to watch. There was a playfulness and an easiness in it. Oh the competitive nature of it was still there, was always there, they were always trying to best each other and win, but they were less forceful of it. It was less a competition and more like an exercise, something to release steam and energy. She HAD noticed though, that sometimes they disappeared after a sparring match, one that involved actual weapons. Those were even more charged than before, the eye contact they held, the way they moved, it was like Thor was studying her and Athena was reacting, quite a change from how they normally fought. But they'd disappear and, at times, she would seek them out and find them wrestling more in private. Nothing unseemly ever happened, nor would it, despite being warriors and despite being a prince, she had raised Thor with more respect for women than to EVER take a woman to his bed before he wed her and she knew that Athena had a very high sense of modesty that she wouldn't ever allow herself to fall into bed with anyone. But she did notice that the wrestling was like an outlet for them after they'd had a spar before others, like a private moment between the two, where they could be physically close without eyes on them.

She was actually very…happy for the both of them, to see her son and Athena growing closer. A relationship such as the one she could see for the two was one that would depend on a connection and understanding of each other's minds and hearts and souls on top of their interests and personalities.

But her smile started to fade when she saw Athena look down and tense, "What is it?"

"He said I died," she told her quietly.

Frigga stiffened at that, knowing that Athena wouldn't ever have told her if she genuinely wasn't shaken by what her brother had foreseen. But even as she sat there, even as she heard Athena tell HER the news…she knew that Athena wouldn't say a word of it to Thor. Her son, bless his heart, was a strong warrior, he could be remarkably focused when the occasion called for it…but she knew, as well as Athena did, that if Thor knew the fate she would be walking into by going to Earth and trying to find Loki, that he would start to focus on her and protecting her and it would start to affect the mission of finding him and returning him to Asgard, bringing him home. And if Thor was focused on her, he wouldn't be focused on protecting himself and he would get hurt and Athena would likely get hurt or die in the process of trying to keep him safe in return and it would be an utter mess.

"Thor can never know," Athena whispered.

Frigga nodded solemnly, hearing her hidden words. This was more than just Thor knowing about her fate…it was also about Thor knowing how she had come by this information. Thor had never been interested in magic and everyone in Asgard knew that it took a talent to be able to safely use magic. Oh someone could be taught it, but it was risky and dangerous and she was quite sure, if it hadn't been for herself mentoring and training Athena just to enter this dream trance, she could have easily fallen into an unawakable sleep, or even death. It was up to those who possessed an innate magic to be able to use it like she and Loki could. If Thor ever found out that she had been encouraging Athena to use Asgardian magic like that…he would be furious at the both of them.

"I will speak to Odin," Frigga determined, getting up and heading for the door, pausing to glance back at Athena as she hunched forward and held her head in her hands.

She knew no words could be given to help reassure her that it would be well, Athena's brother had never been wrong yet.

~8~

Athena and Thor stood before Odin Allfather as the man sat on his throne in the empty hall, empty save for them and Frigga standing beside him. The guards were outside the room, the Warriors Three and Sif were not brought in with them and Thor knew it had to be serious for it to be such a private matter. And there was only one thing that could be so serious as this…Loki.

They had kept quiet about his heritage, about how he was a Frost Giant though the damage of what he'd done in allowing the Jotuns into Asgard and sending the Destroyer to kill him had gone around. They had told the realm that Loki had likely died and did nothing to dissuade them to think that he might be alive. But for them to be there, he knew it had to mean that Loki was alive and that they knew where. It would make sense for the two of them to be there, they would be tasked to go after him. He was Loki's brother, and Athena was as clever as he was so she would be an asset in trying to bring him back to Asgard. He knew it was his mother's deepest wish to see her youngest son returned to them, but he would be lying if he didn't admit to himself that he was concerned about what Loki would be returning to them as…a repentant prince and brother, or a mad traitor.

"Father," he hit a fist to his shoulder as Athena did the same, the two of them moving to a knee in deference before the man.

"My son," Odin nodded, gesturing for them both to rise, "Your mother, Queen Frigga, has come to me with startling news."

"Of Loki?" Thor frowned.

Frigga nodded, "I have found him," she told Thor, a small smile on her face.

"Where is he?" Thor asked, straightening, a serious expression coming to his face as his thoughts were confirmed.

"Midgard."

This time it was Athena who looked confused, "But the Bifrost has been destroyed," she remarked, "I assume you wish us to return him but how shall we manage it? We cannot travel between realms any longer."

Odin sighed and stood, "There is a deep, dark magic that the king of Asgard may summon in times of danger and desperation," he began, holding Gungnir flat before him, "I can create a portal that would allow travel to one realm and back. But it can only be done once and the connection between worlds will only last a short while."

"Send us," Thor declared, "Athena and I shall find Loki and return him to Asgard."

"Thor," Athena cut in lightly, "We ought not rush into this," she warned him, "We must know all there is to know about Loki and where he is."

Thor nodded at that, understanding the logic in that, "Mother?" he turned to her, "Where is he? Where on Earth?"

"I cannot be certain," Frigga frowned, "Midgard has changed in the millennia we have departed. There is a city, large with buildings, called…York."

"New York," Thor nodded, "It was a city Erik Selvig mentioned," he glanced at Athena who nodded, recalling some of his drunken mumblings the last time they had been on Earth.

Odin nodded at that, closing his eyes to focus on summoning the magic and the location with Gungnir as Frigga continued, "Thor…Loki has possession of the Tesseract."

"What?!" Thor's eyes widened at that, the Tesseract…what could Loki possibly want with that!?

Oh he knew what Loki could do with it and all it served to do was make him even more alarmed and fearful that his brother would be returning as a criminal and murderer than his brother. He tried not to think of that, but it was hard. The Tesseract was dangerous, powerful, full of energy, but dangerous. It could power an entire realm for millennia…or destroy an entire world. He wouldn't allow himself to hope that Loki was using it to help humanity, not if he was willing to slaughter the Jotuns. A small voice argue that Loki saw the Jotuns as an enemy of Asgard, which they were, but that could equally be humanity instead, especially if Loki had gone mad which he had seemed to do only moments before he'd fallen into the abyss.

"He means to use it to unleash an army," Frigga added solemnly, crushing the last tiny hope that Thor held that his brother might still be in there.

Athena reached out, seeing the heartbreak in Thor's eyes at the thought of what Loki would do, how he'd use an army to crush Earth or destroy it or rule it or whatever a person needed an army for. She placed her hand on his arm in comfort, "Means to," she repeated to him, before glancing at Frigga, playing her part of not knowing any of this beforehand, "He has not unleashed them yet?"

"No," Frigga breathed a sigh of relief at that.

"Thor," Odin spoke, starting to move down the steps from his throne, Gungnir in his hand, crackling with a dark swirl of energy, "Athena," he glanced between the two, "With the utmost secrecy and delicacy, I command you to Earth. There you shall locate Loki, seize the Tesseract, and return both to Asgard."

"What if he has unleashed his army before we find him?" Thor frowned.

"You have been given your commands," Odin stated.

Athena and Thor looked at each other for that, knowing what he meant…if they found him too late, they would be expected to return the instant they got to Loki and the Tesseract, not stay and help the Earth. After all that the humans had done to help them (not counting Coulson and his agents holding Athena prisoner and gassing them both for a short while) they had been helpful and innocent and they had not done a thing to warrant any sort of attack on them, least of all by Loki.

Frigga smiled though as she saw their look, already knowing that they wouldn't listen to that order, nor would she want them to. Odin had ruled Asgard for so long he saw only his people and their safety, but Thor, with Athena's unknowing help, was seeing that all innocents, no matter who, no matter from what realm, deserved to be protected and it was a king's duty to see to that.

Odin lifted Gungnir above his head, the black energy starting to buzz, and slammed the end of it into the ground before him, stepping back as a swirling vortex of what appeared to be storm clouds and black mist sprang up from where it had struck, moving around like a small windstorm before them.

Thor looked at Athena, holding out his hand to her. They didn't know what this portal would be like, if it would be like the Bifrost where they landed in one place, where they landed together in one set area, or if it would drop them somewhere else. They couldn't even be sure they'd land together if they were not attached to the other. Athena seemed to see that as well as, as she reached out and took his hand, the two of them holding tight to each other with their one hands, and resting a hand on their weapons with the other before they ran and leapt into the portal, feeling like they were falling through a hole of biting winds.

Neither of them had any idea what they would fall into the middle of.

A/N: Bit of an original start :) We'll be getting into the Avengers in the next chapter ^-^

Some notes on reviews...(from the end of Humility)...

We'll have to wait and see if Athena will actually physically be with her family again, but she got a glimpse of her brother here ;)

I've seen parts of Man of Steel, but not all of it so I can't say if I'd write a story for it just yet :)


	2. In Mens Rea

In Mens Rea

Travelling by any other means than the Bifrost and Rainbow Bridges was torture as far as Athena was concerned and she was quite sure, given the pained noises Thor was making beside her, it was equally as troublesome for him as well. It felt like they were being twisted and pulled and turned and tugged from every direction. Her skin felt like it was being pricked by thousands of small needles and it was cold, bone chillingly cold. Even for all their training in frigid temperatures and in sweltering deserts, this sort of cold wasn't normal, they both knew that. It seeped into their skin, into their bones, into their very souls it felt like. It truly was as dark and dangerous a magic as Odin had proclaimed it to be and Athena was quite sure that Thor was silently swearing to himself that he would never learn and never use such magic as this ever even when he was king. It was pure torture. They were falling into the darkness and the winds were howling around them and they could hardly see the other person next to them. She would have thought Thor lost to her if not for his agonized cries of pain mimicking her own and the feel of his hand gripping her hers with such force that she knew if she were a mere mortal he'd have broken her hand.

But, then again, she was entirely sure that she would have broken his hand as well. It was all they could do though, to ensure they would get to their destination together. They had no idea where they were, how they were travelling, if they were moving through the abyss Loki had been lost through. Whatever the case was, they couldn't let go of each other. Her mind filled with horrible images of what could happen if they did, one of them would land where they were meant to, the other would go flying off into the darkness, landing who knew where. And they both knew that, wherever they ended up, if it was not where the portal Odin had conjured intended, they doubted the portal would be able to open up and take them back to Asgard. This was dangerous and tricky magic at work and they were not going to disappoint Odin or Frigga. They knew they were heading into what might be a battle, but they did have hope that they would be able to find Loki and prevent it, but it wouldn't change anything for Loki.

Odin had been told of Loki's plans and the fact that he would use the Tesseract to attack Earth, it was a betrayal to Asgard that he would not use it to return to them, that he would instead use its powers for something it wasn't meant to be used for. To abuse the power of it in that way, to refuse to come home and restore the Tesseract to the Vault, it meant that Loki would be seen as even more of a traitor. She knew that Thor had all the hope in the world of getting to Loki before he managed to start his plan with the box, that he hoped to prevent the battle but also prevent Loki from doing anything too severe that could work against him in his hopes of returning as his brother and not a traitor. But she also knew what darkness and loneliness could do to a person, the true madness it could drive them to. Oh she had seen people struck with madness in the past, human, monster, and god alike, it could happen to anyone and if Loki had been afflicted by something, he wouldn't even see his actions as wrong.

She liked to think and hope that, somewhere inside him, Loki had realized that the genocide of Jotunheim had been wrong, that he regretted it, for if he didn't then it would be the true sign that Loki was gone. She liked to hope, but she was also a realistic person. She knew that the shock and betrayal that Loki felt had likely caused some sort of fracture in his mind. To be raised Asgardian all his life and be told stories of how Jotuns were monsters that deserved death…and then to find out he WAS one? To do all he could to try and be seen as a hero and loyal son (in the worst possible ways) and have that fail, it could only drive a person so far. She and Thor had seen it, the moment that Loki truly fell to the madness within him, when he'd been laughing and crying and questioning them about if it really as madness. He was lost, she knew that full well, he was lost but Thor would never accept that.

And so she would try, for him, to help him get his brother back from the insanity he'd fallen into. It was why she was there, right now, clutching his hand as they fell through space and through the realms, feeling like she was being torn apart by the elements around her. Odin, when he'd been told what the vision had entailed, had offered her a choice. He was not one to order her about as though she were just one of his subjects, he knew not only was she a warrior but an advisor, she was thoughtful and logical and she reasoned things out. She was the least likely to make rash decisions though she would admit she had made many in the past, but with each case she worked to do and be better the next time. He had offered her the choice, to go with Thor, or to have him go alone. For the betrayal that he felt, the Warriors Three and Sif felt doubly so, they felt betrayed by Loki but equally they felt the hurt that the betrayal had caused Thor and his family. They were less likely to attempt to help stop Loki than they were to try and outright kill him. And, given that choice, how could she selfishly refuse to go with Thor? She had told him once before that she understood betrayal from family and that she would never let him face it alone and to say no would mean condemning him to just that, to facing his traitor brother by himself.

Her life, in the scope of the universe, meant little. She was not a queen, she was not an heir in the sense that there was a kingdom to be taken over, she was not important in Asgard. She liked to think she was important to Thor, but the life of a warrior was to always be aware that each breath could be their last. She had made peace with that when she'd come to Asgard, she had understood that being there could lead to her death, and she had accepted that. If it was her fate to die on Earth, she would die on Earth, she would not leave Thor alone till literally her last breath. She had a small hope though that what her brother had seen in his vision, what he interpreted it to be, was not all that there was to her fate. His visions came in snippets and flashes, left to him to piece together. There could be more that he had not seen, he could have seen something in the wrong order, he could have only seen the beginning of something but not what came after. She was always cautious with her brother's visions, while they were never wrong, while they happened exactly like he saw them, there were times where there was more to it he hadn't seen.

Right now though she truly felt like she was being killed, like the breath and life was being sucked out of her the longer they were in that swirling black vortex of pain.

Athena let out a deep gasp as she finally felt a breath of fresh air hit her…along with rain, as she and Thor fell out of the bottom of the portal and into the middle of a storm. She wasn't sure which was worse now. There were dark gray clouds gathered around them, rain coming down around them, equally as chilled winds, but now, instead of travelling through the portal, they were plummeting in air.

"Athena!" Thor tugged her closer by her hand still holding his and wrapped his arm around her before he lifted Mjolnir, using it to help them fly instead of fall.

"Where is Loki!?" she shouted above the sound of the winds whipping around them, "The Portal should have taken us right to him!"

They looked around, trying to find the missing prince, not sure why the portal had opened in the air instead of somewhere closer to the ground. Thor lowered Mjolnir, allowing them to sink down below the torrent of rain and clouds around them. And they could see it, one of the large metal birds, planes Jane had told them they were called last time they were there, soaring below them. And they knew it had Loki in it, not only was it too small but...there was also a S.H.I.E.L.D. written on the side of it and they knew that it must be Coulson and his agents within. Even if Loki was not there, SHIELD would be able to help them find him.

"There," Athena pointed at it, Thor nodding, realizing the same thing she had.

He lifted Mjolnir higher, summoning lightning and used it to propel them both forward, leaving a roar of thunder in their wake, the two of them flying for the plane.

Unfortunately they were not quite equipped and practiced in the art of landing on a flying moving metal bird and ended up landing too hard, shaking the plane in the process. Athena toppled out of Thor's grip, her arm slamming on the metal of the bird, causing her to groan and hiss in pain, clutching her elbow, while Thor used Mjolnir to steady himself. He looked over, seeing her a few feet away but she shook her head and waved him off.

"Go get Loki," she told him, "We haven't the time to waste on minor injuries," she sat up and flexed out her arm, flinching slightly but showing him she would be alright.

Thor gave her a firm nod and moved to the back of the plane, having seen a large gate-like door moments before they'd hit the top of the plane. He paused, seeing in a flash of lightning that it was actually opening, he knew that it had to mean someone inside was coming out but he had little time to think on who, time was of the essence, the sooner he could find Loki the better it would be for him and Athena and the Earth. He feared that, if Loki had been taken by SHIELD then it was already too late to stop the man's plans, but he had to be certain, he had to see if Loki was even in there. He jumped off the back of the plane and onto the small door, his gaze going right to Loki as he sat, his hands manacled together, on a small bench to the side. He hardly cast a glance to the others that were in the craft though he noticed it was two men and a women. One man, with dark hair and a moustache and beard, was in red and gold armor, a shining circle of light set in the breastplate of his armor. There was another man, with yellow hair, short and slick, in blue, white, and red armor as well, stars on it with a large round shield that appeared to be a target with a star in the middle. He could barely make out that the pilot of the craft was a woman in black, with short curly red hair. But that was all he allowed himself to notice as his attention focused solely on Loki once more.

He stormed towards his brother, not seeing the Tesseract anywhere in the craft or on his person but knowing that Loki had many tricks that could hide it from him. The man in red and gold armor tried to move in his way, but he didn't even stop, just slammed Mjolnir into his chest, sending him flying back and into the man in blue. He moved right over to Loki, unable to help but feel a rush of anger for him, for what he'd done. He hadn't just allowed Jotuns into Asgard as a joke, he had manipulated everything. He had endangered the lives of their people if his mischief went wrong, guards had DIED because of what he'd done. And after that, he'd killed the king of another realm which meant, if the Bifrost was ever repaired they had to disconnect Jotunheim from it or risk retribution. He had tried to destroy the realm and, worse yet, he had allowed himself to fall into the abyss of space. He had forced them to mourn him as though he were dead.

All he could think about as he looked at his brother was the sight of his mother in tears when he had to tell her what had become of Loki after he'd gone to stop him from destroying Jotunheim. He saw the months of her in black, mourning him, months of hearing her tears and her false smiles and her small smiles and sad smiles. He remembered every bit of agony his cowardly death had caused their mother and, before he even realized he was doing it, he reached out and grabbed Loki by the throat, dragging him to the door just as another figure jumped onto it, Athena.

She was at his side in an instant, her sword out and pointed back at the two men as they tried to attack him from behind, threatening them to stop where they were and come no closer. She had her determined and focused expression on her face that he recognized from their battles, she was in her warrior mind frame at the moment and he was thankful for it. His mind was in turmoil seeing his brother again. He felt relieved he was alive and angry that he'd betrayed him, he felt hurt that Loki had turned on him but still happy that his brother drew breath, and…numb as well, he felt numb. He had mourned his brother, he had cried, he would admit, he had tried to honor him in his death and had tried to let go of his anger. It hadn't worked but he had tried to move on, he had let his brother go…and now he was back and he didn't know how to act around him or what to think, he'd mourned the loss of him and Loki was standing right in front of him once more. He would need Athena's focus and dedication and strength to handle this.

And he trusted her to the point where he didn't even need to look back and make sure his back was defended, he knew that she would defend him and protect him from the two men. He reached out and held a hand to her, and she took it with her back still turned to him, knowing he was reaching for her. He almost smirked, wishing he could see the look on the men's faces when they jumped out of the plane, Athena doing so backwards, and into the night.

He held tight to Mjolnir, using it to guide them to earth, the two of them nearly crashing into a cliff in his anger and the small niggling in his head that told him his brother deserved to be bruised and hurt a little after letting them all think him dead. Loki was resourceful and clever and he didn't doubt that Loki would have come up with some way to contact them or to send them a sign that he lived. But as they neared the cliff, he recalled that Athena was right beside him and he would NOT allow her to come to harm just because of the spite he felt for his brother. So the two of them landed on the cliff, and he threw Loki to the ground, hopping down beside him as his brother groaned.

"Where is the Tesseract?" Thor demanded, Athena landing behind him, moving to his side, her hand on her sword, but she kept quiet, knowing that this anger was something to be watched and not goaded or tried to temper. She had experienced it herself, the sting of betrayal and being confronted with the person who committed it, it had to be worked through, not controlled by someone else.

"Oh ho," Loki smirked at him from the ground, "I missed you too."

"Loki," she hissed, silently telling him NOT to attempt jesting with Thor at the moment.

"Do I look to be in a gaming mood?" Thor demanded.

"Oh, you should thank me," Loki rolled his eyes, "With the Bifrost gone, how much dark energy did the Allfather have to muster to conjure you here?" he wondered, "Your precious Earth…"

Athena strode forward, pointing her sword at Loki's throat before Thor could react, she knew he was an inch away from dropping his hammer and attacking his brother physically and they needed answers, not an unconscious Jotun, "Hold your tongue Loki," she threatened, knowing that this was a very delicate subject, Thor's mother and father, and for Loki to bring up the dark energy that Odin had needed to use was too much for Thor. It was also a reminder that Loki had held Gungnir, he had sensed its powers, he had used it himself, and Thor had not, it was just another reminder of his betrayal, "Or I cut it out and we use other methods of getting information from you."

"I thought you dead," Thor snapped at Loki.

"Did you mourn?" Loki asked.

"ALL of us did Loki," Athena told him, "Even the ones who knew the truth about where you hailed from," she added, being sure to remind him that, despite being a Jotun, they had ALL considered him Asgardian.

"Our father…" Thor began.

"YOUR father," Loki cut in with a glare, "He did tell you my true parentage, did he not?"

"I did," Athena shook her head, slightly concerned about the question, Loki should have known fairly well that Thor knew the truth given their last encounter, "I saw your skin in Jotunheim when the Frost Giant touched you."

"But it matters not," Thor shook his head, "We were raised together, we played together, we fought together. Do you remember none of that?"

"I remember a shadow," Loki sneered, pushing himself to his feet, "Living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss. I who was and should be king!"

Athena shook her head, "Says the man who claimed to not have wanted the throne?" she scoffed, but there was an uneasy feeling settling in the pit of her stomach about that. It was like Loki was changing his story on them, especially that remark about being 'tossed' into the abyss…when HE had let go of Gungnir himself. There was no tossing, there was no one who wanted the throne…she honestly wasn't sure if this was a trick by him or if there was something else going on.

Because this…this didn't seem like Loki and she knew that being lost in just darkness would not be enough to twist him into this.

"So you take the world I have sworn to be an ally to as recompense for your imagined slights?" Thor frowned, "No. The Earth is under our protection, Loki," he gestured between himself and Athena.

"And you're doing a marvelous job with that," Loki scoffed, "The humans slaughter each other in droves while you idelly fret. I mean to rule them," he grinned, "And why should I not?"

"Have you fallen so far into madness that you think yourself above them?" Athena frowned at him.

"Well yes."

Thor shook his head sadly at that, "Then you miss the truth of ruling, brother. Throne would suit you ill."

Loki shot him a glare and shoved past him, "I've seen worlds you've never known about. I have grown, Odinson, in my exile. I have seen the true power of the Tesseract, and when I wield it…"

"Who?" Athena stepped after him, hearing a hidden meaning in his words, he hadn't SEEN things like that, he had BEEN SHOWN them, "Who showed you the power of the Tesseract?"

Thor stiffened, realizing what she had, if there had been someone else with him in his exile…as Athena had been in his own, it was possible that they had manipulated Loki in his depression, that they had used what he saw as a betrayal to get his trust and twist his mind. He had seen it as well, a flinch in Loki when Athena had first asked 'Who?' and he felt bile rise in him at the realization that the flinch was not one of a secret let slip but of a pain, as though he expected some sort of punishment for doing so, "Who controls the would-be-king?" he murmured.

But Loki just rounded on them, "I am a king!"

"Not here," Thor shook his head, "You give up the Tesseract to us," he told Loki, "You give up this poisonous dream! You come _home_."

Loki looked at him a long while before letting out a breath, "I don't have it."

"Loki he isn't saying that the Tesseract is the only reason we've come," Athena shook her head, seeing Loki genuinely thought Thor had only come for the cube and not his brother, "YOU are part of our quest as well."

Loki scoffed at that, "You need the Cube to bring me home but I've sent it off I know not where."

Thor held up Mjolnir at him, "You listen well brother…"

"Thor!" Athena gasped as a blur of red and gold went soaring past them, taking Thor with it as Loki just stood there.

"I'm listening?" Loki smirked.

Athena just gripped her sword tighter and lunged at him.

~8~

Thor flew through the air, the man in Gold and Red armor grabbing him, sending the two of them crashing into a series of trees in the forest beside the cliff. They tumbled to the ground, the man lifting a faceplate that was guarding his head.

"Do not touch me again!" Thor threatened, leaping to his feet with Mjolnir in his hand.

"Then don't take my stuff," the man countered.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with."

"Uh…" the man eyed Thor, "Shakespeare in the park?" he guessed, and Thor could tell by his tone it was meant to be both jesting and insulting at the same time, "Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?"

"This is beyond you, metal man," Thor warned, "Loki will face Asgardian justice."

"He gives up the Cube, he's all yours," the man shrugged, "Until then," he reached up and dropped his faceplate armor, "Stay out of the way," he took a few steps back, about to turn and leave with a mutter of, "Tourist."

Thor glared, not sure what that word was but not about to be insulted again, so he threw Mjolnir, hitting the man of metal right in the chest as he turned, hearing the attack coming, sending the man flying onto his back.

"Ok!" the man growled, pushing himself up as Thor summoned Mjolnir back to him, swinging it in preparation for a battle.

The man held his hand up, firing a blast of energy at Thor before flying right for him, kicking Thor in the chest and sending him flying back through the trees this time. Thor jumped to his feet, having seen an energy like lightning in the man's attack and summoned more to his hammer, using a tactic Athena had taught him to observe his enemy to send a bolt right back at the man, fighting fire with fire. The man tried to fire back at him, the two of them standing off against the other moments later, their fists clenched, ready to fly right at each other in a split second. And so they did.

They launched at each other, smashing the both of them through the trees and right into the cliff's side before they fell back to the forest, taking trees down with them as they landed in a mangled heap. They stood quickly and faced off again. Thor moved to threw a punch at the man, making him about to punch back, but he grabbed the man's hand, moving to grab the man's other hand when he tried to punch with his other hand. He grit his teeth and started to crush the metal around the man's right hand, but the man lifted his hand and sent a blast at Thor's face. It did nothing to him save anger him. And when the man moved to head butt Thor and failed to distract him, Thor threw his head forward, head butting the man instead, sending him flying back. The man's feet dragged in the dirt before he threw himself forward, flying at Thor, sending him flying into a broken tree.

It simmered slightly after they regained their footing, moving into more of a fist fight instead of one with weapons. However it didn't last and soon Thor was summoning his hammer and slamming it down on the breastplate of the metal man, but the man ducked to the side, causing Thor to fall mid-slam. As Thor stumbled to get to his feet, the man swooped in and punched him in the gut, the two of them about to resort to dealing blows once more when a round shield ricocheted through the woods and slammed into both their chests, knocking them away from each other.

"Hey!" the man in blue shouted, catching his shield as he moved into the now-man made clearing that the two had created in their fight, "That's enough!" he jumped off a tree and stepped up to the two men, looking more at Thor than the other man, "Now I don't know what you plan on doing here…"

"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes!" Thor declared.

"Then prove it," the blue man challenged, "Put that hammer down."

"Uh, yeah!" the metal man winced and turned to the blue man, "No! Bad call, he loves his hammer…"

Before the man could even finish, Thor swung Mjolnir back, sending the metal man flying back once more, "You want me to put hammer down?" he shouted, before leaping into the air and slamming the hammer right at the blue man.

But the man raised his round shield above his head to protect himself, the hammer connecting with the metal of the shield and creating a loud boom and flash of light that sent all three men flying backwards.

"Are we done here?!" the blue man demanded as he scrambled to his feet, panting and glaring at the two others, gesturing around at the utterly destroyed part of the forest.

Thor lifted his hammer to speak, when another sound rose.

"Et hem?" a voice cleared behind them.

All three men turned to see Athena standing there with her arms crossed, an unamused expression on her face, "Have you all quite finished with your little spat?" she asked, a tone of no-nonsense in her voice as she eyed each of them in turn, "Or have you forgotten the prisoner you were transporting?" she gave a mock-thoughtful look, "I wonder who's guarding him right now while you're all preoccupied with your little tiff?"

The men looked at each other, as though just realizing they'd left Loki unattended, and ran back where they'd left him…only to stop short when they saw him on the ground, tied up and gagged…glaring at Athena as she smirked.

"Never leave a man to do a woman's job," she remarked wisely, moving over to Loki and slamming the hilt of her sword across his face, held tightly in her fist, knocking him out for the moment. She straightened and turned, sliding her sword back into her sheath as she saw them staring at her, "What?"

"How…" was all the blue man could muster as he pointed at Loki.

"She is one of Asgard's most skilled warriors!" Thor boasted as he came to her side, moving an arm around her shoulder, a wide grin on his face.

Athena rolled her eyes, "He barely put up a fight," she warned him, "It was far too easy to subdue him," she looked at the metal man and the blue man, "Had he truly tried to fight you, you would both be dead," she added, "Which means wherever you were bringing him was somewhere he WANTED to go. He only let me be victorious so that he could be recaptured."

The two men looked at each other, having their own suspicions confirmed by her words, and turned to her, "I would like to extend a truce," the blue man stated, "For the sake of the Earth, we should join forces."

"And why should we?" Athena asked, not sounding condescending, but genuinely curious.

But it was Thor who answered, "They are aware of the Tesseract," Thor told her, recalling the metal man's words about the cube, "They are in search of it as well."

Athena let out a long breath, "Then Loki has already set his plan in motion."

A/N: We'll be getting a more complete telling of what happened before Athena and Thor arrived in the next chapter, they'll have to be briefed and brought up to speed about what Loki's done ;)

Some notes on reviews...

I can say that the man Athena spoke to will appear again in The Dark World and we'll find out for sure who he is ;) As for You-Know-Who, we'll have to wait a little longer to find out who she is ;)

If I did a Man of Steel story, it probably would be Clark/OC :) I like Lois Lane well enough, but I've seen so many portrayals of her that I couldn't really see a connect between her and the men playing Clark :/


	3. Debriefed

Debriefing

Athena had demanded, the moment that they were onboard the plane again, with Loki restrained and still unconscious, that the two men, Tony (the man in the metal armor) and Steve (the man in blue), tell them all that had happened. While the men fumbled for a response to the demand, unsure if they should be sharing information, the woman in black, Natasha, took over, having called a Director Fury, apparently Coulson's boss, for clearance to bring them in on the mission. And finally, they had been told all that SHIELD knew about what Loki had done since arriving on Earth.

SHIELD had been experimenting with the Tesseract which they had stumbled across, they'd been using al the scientists that they could spare to try and work out how it worked and what it could do among other things. There had been some odd readings coming from it, odder than their machines had normally picked up and it was concerning quite a few people. There was a man, Agent Barton, that Natasha has gotten rather bitter and harsh sounding about when she revealed he had been compromised in battle. The man had guessed that the Tesseract, if it acted like a doorway, was being forced open on the other side, that someone on the other end of the universe might be trying to get to Earth.

Unfortunately that someone was Loki.

He had appeared in an enormous blast in the SHIELD research room, complete with a scepter in hand. It was a small curved blade with a glowing blue orb in it, the same as the Tesseract, and Loki had attacked nearly instantly. He had killed many men and women, agents of SHIELD, and he had even managed to take a few others under his control. It appeared he left the base with an Agent, Barton, and a scientist as well as the Tesseract. It had been chaos, Loki trying to flee the base after he'd attacked the men, even managing to wound this Director Fury. Barton had assisted him, had driven a car recklessly through the base until he had gotten them out. The scepter, they'd learned was not only a means to control the men around Loki nor was it merely a blade to fight with, but that the orb set within it could act in a similar manner to the Destroyer, sending out blast of energy that destroyed the surrounding tunnels of the base. Loki had even taken care of the research room that the Tesseract had been held in, destroying all that with the excess energy that the Tesseract had released when he appeared.

He had fled, managed to escape by shooting down another metal bird, a helicopter Tony had called it, that had Director Fury in it. SHIELD had been trying to find him ever since and had gathered everyone that they could think that would be able to help them deal with Loki. Natasha was, apparently, an expert assassin, as was Agent Barton, though both had distinctive methods. She had been called in due to her interrogation techniques as well as the fact that Barton was her partner and she wanted to help him. Tony was a scientist and a weapons expert, another man, Dr. Banner, was also a scientist who specialized in the type of 'radiation' that the Tesseract had been releasing before it opened the portal for Loki. Steve was a soldier, but one that had been modified, had been given more strength and speed and endurance which made him a good defensive match for Loki. And now that Thor and Athena were there, they were sure they would be included into this odd mix of people.

They had lost track of Loki though and had only found the man in a country called Germany, a short while before they had arrived on the plane to take Loki back. They couldn't just return Loki now because the Tesseract was not in his possession any longer. THAT had been a setback in their plan to come to earth and return with Loki and the ancient artifact. They truly didn't know where Loki could have left it, though none of the men that he had taken control of here captured in Loki's latest attack so it very well could be with them…wherever they were. Loki had entered a celebration in Germany, knocked out a guard, grabbed a man and, using some sort of earth magic, gouged the man's eye out. That had, of course, led to the masses fleeing the establishment in panic and Loki striding among them and making them kneel before him. One man had stood up to him and, before Loki could harm him, Steve (Captain America) and Iron Man (Tony) had arrived to protect them. They had subdued Loki surprisingly easily as well.

…which had led to Athena giving them a look and asking them if they realized it was likely a distraction.

To which the men had looked at each other and then turned to Natasha to radio Fury and see if there was any sort of report from any SHIELD bases nearby.

The men were impressed with her, especially when it came back that there had been a break in by Barton in a secure facility that the man with the gauged eye was affiliated with. Something called Iridium had been stolen from it and no one was notified because all resources were directed at Loki. Thor, however, wasn't quite so impressed. He had wondered the same and, to the two of them, having known Loki better and more personally than the people there, it was easy to guess what Loki's true purpose had been. Loki, the man they had seen on the cliff and hearing what he'd done since arriving…it was clear to the two of them that he would have had no qualms with slaughtering that entire banquet just to get to the man he wanted, he hadn't attacked any other humans, he hadn't made an entirely too large scene, just enough chaos to lure SHIELD there and have them focus on him. If he had truly been there for an attack, then people would be dead, more than already were.

Loki's first act upon arriving on earth had been to attack and kill a room full of agents, the man clearly had no reason to not kill others unless it was for a specific purpose. Loki was luring them away. It was obvious to them as this Loki would kill on a whim so he had to have gone in there with a plan. And they could only guess why he'd allowed himself to be captured so easily instead of disappearing or having used one of his projections instead. They feared that he was either using himself as a target, ready to use the men he'd gotten control of to break him out and force SHIELD to fight against their own agents. Or that he was going to try and manipulate them against each other and cause even more mischief and mayhem to distract them from looking for the Tesseract. Both were very likely scenarios.

The fact that the Tesseract was not in Loki's possession was what alarmed Thor and Athena more though. The cube had been in Asgardian possession for ages and they still didn't know the full effects of what it could do. For Loki to leave it in the hands of humans…they weren't very comfortable with that at all. Humans had a habit of using what was given to them as weapons. And given the warning from Frigga, that Loki was going to open a portal and allow his army to earth, they could guess that even while the Tesseract was in human hands they would be working towards that same goal. Even with Loki detained his work was still ongoing and that was a truly distressing notion.

Thor glanced at Athena as they stood in a large room filled with people and monitors and a large table behind them, clouds visible through the glass windows before them. They'd been brought to a heli-craft as Natasha called it, where Loki was being brought to a containment room. He was…concerned about her. After she had brought up the question of if Loki was acting as a distraction for them she grew silent, she had been…surprisingly silent since they had joined the others. If he hadn't known her better he would have thought that she was just deep in thought but he could tell from how she stood, standing with her left arm across her stomach but gripping her right elbow, her right hand near her mouth with the small coin that was on the end of a necklace he'd seen her wear under her armor brushing against her lips, that she was actually…nervous, worried about something. He wanted to ask her what was bothering her about all this, but he knew she wouldn't say. She tended to hold things in till she was ready to talk unlike himself where a few rounds of ale and mead would loosen his lips.

She was staring though, right at a screen of some sort that was displaying where Loki was being taken. It was a room with a large glass cage in the center of it, a small metal path that led to the sliding glass doors that Loki was shoved into before they closed. A man was there, a dark skinned man in black, he had no hair but an eyepatch on his one eye, Director Fury. He reminded Thor very much of both Heimdall and Odin at the same time. But he noticed that Athena wasn't staring at Fury not even at Loki but at the glass cage he was now standing in. She was eyeing it as though studying it for some reason he couldn't understand, her eyes flitting to the cage to the room in general but not on Fury or Loki. He wasn't even sure if she was paying attention to what Fury was saying as they, and Steve, Natasha, and Dr. Banner (a rather quiet and skittish man in a purple shirt), watched on.

Fury was standing at some sort of control panel for the glass cage, Thor could see in how tense the man was that he was both angry, but relieved, and also concerned and on edge. Loki had attacked the man earlier, had wounded and killed many of his agents, had managed to take a few others under his control, had even attacked and harmed Fury as well. The man clearly knew how dangerous Loki could be and was every bit as focused on keeping Loki caged as he was trying not to let his anger cloud his judgment. He had a feeling that Athena would interact well with the man for how he was attempting to think logically and rationally through the situation and not allow much of his anger to control his actions.

"In case it's unclear," Fury was saying to Loki, who appeared quite unamused and disinterested as the man spoke, his voice echoing through the room, "You try to escape, you so much as scratch that glass," Fury pushed a button and the floor beneath the glass cage opened, dropping away to reveal nothing but the open are beneath them, the wind whipping through the room, forcing Fury to speak louder, "Thirty thousand feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?" he pushed a button again and the floor closed up, "Ant," he gestured at Loki and then to the controls, "Boot."

Athena frowned, not entirely understanding the reference or point of those words but Loki didn't seem even slightly concerned about what was happening, he just grinned, "It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you," Fury agreed.

Athena frowned at that and looked over, hearing a small chuckle come from Dr. Banner. It appeared Coulson had warned Fury about the two of them, that there was a file about how they were not of Earth and that the things they said might be offensive to some when out of context but also of their 'inhuman strength.' Fury had warned them before the plane touched down that they should be cautious of what they said around Dr. Banner, there had been some sort of magic that had altered his body. When he grew too angry, he would transform into a large, strong, angry green monster, or so they'd been told. They had both been relatively quiet since arriving but she had been glancing at Banner from time to time. It appeared the cage Loki was in was intended for Banner and he was well aware of that.

She glanced at Thor, seeing him eyeing Banner as well and slipped her necklace back under her breastplate, knowing she should pay more attention. She could tell from how Thor was watching the man with curiosity that he too had come up with the same thought she had. If the cage was holding Loki and Fury believed it was meant to hold something stronger than him…that might mean he believed that the cage would be the same for the two of them, that it was meant to and capable of holding something stronger than them. If that was true…then it was best to be even more cautious around Banner and not draw the green man out. For if that cage was to hold him…it was a testament to his strength and how savage and out of control he could get. They were looking and faced with the man within at the moment, but neither of them wished to be forced to face the Hulk, as Steve had mentioned Banner called his alter ego. If the Hulk was stronger than Loki, they didn't want to test their strength against him.

"Oh I've heard," Loki spoke, pulling both immortals' gazes back to the security footage, "A mindless beast makes play he's still a man," Loki hummed at that before laughing, "How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I?" Fury scoffed, stepping towards the cage, "You threaten my world with war, you steal a force you can't hope to control, you talk about peace and you kill cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

"Ooh," Loki smirked, "It burns you to have come so close, to have the Tesseract, to have power, _unlimited_ power, and for what?" he shook his head, "A warm light for all mankind to share?" he tilted his head as he observed Fury, "And then to be reminded what real power is."

Athena frowned as she watched Fury for his reaction, a small smile making its way onto her face as she saw him smile and step back, "Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something," he called before leaving Loki alone and striding out of the room.

"He did not fall for Loki's bait," Athena remarked, "Impressive."

"He's well versed in interrogation and negotiation," Natasha called from her seat at the table, setting down a small handheld monitor, "He can handle himself."

"We aren't here to assess Fury's skills," Steve cut in, sitting across from Natasha with his mask off, but still in his blue suit, "We were supposed to be watching the feed to see what we could learn from Loki," he glanced at the two immortals, "Did you pick up anything that might help us?"

Athena sighed but shook her head, "I'm afraid not," she ignored Thor glancing over at her in surprise at that, he had, admittedly, not learned much from Loki nor what he'd said, but Athena had always had a slightly keener eye and sharper ear than he had, he'd have thought she'd see something there, "It is clear his motives are the same though," she gestured at the screen, "You underestimate just how strong we are," she warned them, "I do not doubt that Thor or Loki or I could take on this…Hulk and be able to hold our own. That would suggest our strength is at least equal to his."

Thor started to nod at that, understanding what she was saying, "That glass cage would not hold us if we did not wish it to."

"You're saying you could break out of that?" Steve frowned.

"Aye," Thor nodded, "Loki could escape at any moment…"

"But he's sitting there, waiting," Athena agreed, "He WANTS to be here. And he knows who IS here. Likely from your Agent Barton."

"He's been compromised," Natasha defended, "He's being forced to tell SHIELD's secrets by whatever Loki's doing that's controlling him."

"I am not disputing that," Athena remarked, "I am merely stating that he is aware of who is here and what he would be facing. We merely need to work out what he gains by staying here. Whether it is another distraction or if there is some sort of intelligence or information here that he requires and how he means to obtain it."

"Loki is clever," Thor added, "Among your people he is believed to be a Trickster god," Selvig had mentioned as much, "And he has proven himself able to think ahead of you. We must be cautious."

"And we must be calm," Athena agreed, "He will use what he knows to bait all of us and, forgive my saying, but we don't know any of you nor your skills in negotiation or interrogation. We all must try to exert a level of control when speaking to Loki. We must beware as well, he is…gifted in speech and manipulation. He may try to use charm and eloquence to trick you as well."

"Yeah," Banner scoffed a little at that, clearly finding it hard to believe that Loki could be charming when he was so condescending and grating, "He really grows on you doesn't he?"

"They're right," Steve rubbed his head, "Loki's gonna drag this out, he's got something else planned. So," he turned to Thor and Athena, "What's his play? What do we know about his actual plan so far?"

Thor straightened, Athena nodding to him to take this question, even though they both had been sent to Earth it went unspoken between them that HE would be the leader of this mission. It was his brother, it was his family, it was up to him how much he wished to divulge to the people there. She knew that her own experience with SHIELD hadn't been the greatest, she still wasn't very fond of being chained up like Coulson had had done to her. She understood his reasons, but she was still very unhappy both with herself and the circumstances. She was angry that she'd been so unaware that she'd allowed it to happen, she was bitter that they'd taken her weapons and armor and undressed her, and she was disturbed that their gas had been able to knock her and Thor out so quickly, that they'd needed to be rescued by a mortal.

She knew SHIELD was doing their job, following their own protocols, but she wasn't happy with what had happened. Understanding was not the same as acceptance or moving on. She was still working on it, on moving past her first impressions of people and things. She hadn't been much of a drinker of mead and ale at first, preferring wine, but time around Thor and the Warriors Three and Sif had given her the acquired taste for it. She had learned to look past her first impression of Thor and the others, realizing she'd been a bit harsh on him. She'd come to the training program with preconceived notions of what the warriors there would be like and Thor had fit with most of her prior thoughts on how they would all act. But she slowly got to know them and realized she'd been wrong. She was hoping she was wrong about SHIELD as well, Coulson seemed truly sorry for what he'd done, he seemed like an honorable man who was just trying to keep the people of Earth safe. She could understand that, his methods though…she didn't agree with them. She would have rather been thrown in a dungeon cell in her armor with her arms bound before her instead of being strapped to a bed with her arms beside her and undressed. That was the protocol in many places of Asgard, prisoners were thrown into a dungeon cell to await questioning. Their weapons were taken, yes, but they were allowed their armor, as was honorable, and their hands were only manacled before them (they didn't bother to tie the hands behind the back, it was far too easy to move them before a person), and they would be allowed freedom to roam around the small room.

She knew it was a…cultural difference, as Jane had called it, her expectation of prison compared to the humans, but she couldn't get over that. She was trying not to be wary of those around her, SHIELD agents, but it was difficult. She hadn't seen Coulson yet though she'd been assured that he was going to be joining them shortly. Perhaps she'd be more at ease with the man who apologized for what they'd done and given her her armor back with them. She was not a fan of SHIELD, but at the moment they were her allies, they shared a common enemy.

"He has an army called the Chitauri," Thor began, recalling Tony had mentioned that name on the plane ride there, had heard Loki mutter it at one point or another, "They're not of Asgard nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army, from outer space?" Steve seemed disbelieving of that.

"Here in this room stand a man who can turn into a large green-skinned brute and two 'gods' as you call us, and you think something coming from space is impossible?" Athena countered.

"Not impossible just…"

"We travelled here through 'space,''" Athena continued, "Asgard is across space, as are the other realms of which yours is one of the Nine. The Chitauri hail from somewhere between those realms. If it makes it more easily acceptable, consider them…an enemy of Asgard, come to help a Jotun take over your world. We know he means to open a rift in the sky to release them."

"So, he's building another portal," Banner murmured, "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor turned to him, alarmed, no one had mentioned Erik to him, just that Agent Barton had been taken with a few other SHIELD agents and scientists, they hadn't stated that Erik was one of them!

"He's an astrophysicist…"

"We know who he is," Athena frowned.

"He's a friend," Thor agreed.

"Loki has them under some kind of spell," Natasha sighed.

"Yes," Athena muttered, "We were warned he had some sort of Siren control over them."

Thor looked over at her, unable to recall being told such a thing, but, then again, he had entered the throne room to see her already speaking with his mother about the mission. Perhaps she had told her more about what was going on with Loki and Earth than the formal knowledge he'd been given before the mission began. They had been speaking in quiet whispers when he had entered the room, Athena moving to his side when they saw it was him, as was protocol to be stand before the rulers of Asgard.

"Sirens?" Banner eyed her with a raised brow, "Like those bird things from the Odyssey?"

"Yes," Athena nodded, "Though I have yet to see Loki take shape of a bird, but near enough. There is a…scepter, I believe you mentioned it," she glanced at Steve and Natasha, "That is how he is controlling them."

"We've got it in our lab," Banner nodded, "We're running scans on it to see if we can work out a way to reverse it."

"What I wanna know is why Loki let us take him," Steve sighed, focusing on that, "He's not leading an army from here."

"Perhaps he is leading an arm TO here," Athena shrugged, just stating another possibility, "He was bait for you before. Perhaps he is being bait for his own army now."

"But why?" Thor frowned, "What purpose would it serve? If he has taken Agent Barton, he would be aware of where Thor is and the security here. He would know that it is being changed and that he would be facing a craft full of agents."

"Why is he doing any of this in the first place?" Athena countered, looking at the monitor, still displaying Loki just standing in the glass cage.

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," Banner remarked, "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you can small crazy on him."

"Have care how you speak," Thor warned, "Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days," Natasha reminded him.

"He's adopted?" Thor offered by means of excuse.

"I think it's about the mechanics," Banner began, "Iridium, what do they need the Iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent," Tony's voice called as the man entered, now in a suit instead of his armor, Coulson striding beside him. He grinned at them but turned to speak to Coulson quietly, "I'm saying, take a weekend. I'll fly you to Portland. Keep love alive," Coulson shook his head at Tony, giving Thor and Athena a greeting nod, before he moved to the side to check on some of the agents while Tony approached Thor and Athena, "Means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD," he eyed Thor a moment, "No hard feelings point break, you got a mean swing," then he winked at Athena, "Nice work with the ropes," he told her, referencing how she'd managed to tie up Loki, "You could come to dinner some time, Pepper would probably love a lesson in how to gag this gob," he pointed at his mouth, making Athena raise an eyebrow in amusement and glance at Thor, a small smirk appearing on her face at how his fists were clenching at what, she was sure, he perceived as Tony flirting with her. But she knew better, the mention of this Pepper woman was enough to know that the man had relations with her. Men didn't often, from what she knew, bring up women by name unless it was a persistent thought on their mind. Tony proved her right as he simply spun around and moved towards the control panels near the end of the table Steve and Natasha were sitting at, "Also, means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants, "Ah," he turned to one of the agents, "Raise the mizzen mast, ship the topsails," everyone looked at him oddly for that, "That man is playing Galaga!" he pointed at the agent, off to the side at one of the controls, "Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did," and then he covered one eye and tried to look at the controls on either side of him, "How does Fury even see these?" he asked to a female agent, Hill, they'd been introduced, as she entered the room.

"He turns!" Hill nearly shouted in exasperation.

"Sounds exhausting!" he grimaced, turning to fiddle with the screens, "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source of high energy density. Something to kick start the Cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill scoffed.

"Last night," he grinned, "The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Impressive," Athena remarked, smiling a little more at Tony, catching sight of Thor's eyes narrowing at the man, his fists clenching at little more at her compliment.

She'd noticed, since the Bifrost had been destroyed, that the compliments she would give to others, like the Warriors Three and other soldiers when she sparred with them (the few times she sparred with them as Thor seemed to have called a monopoly on that) were often met with Thor sparring them after her and doing his ultimate best to beat them, giving her a wide grin when she complimented him, albeit a bit sarcastically, she could tell he was a tad bit jealous…she secretly loved it though…but she wasn't going to stop complimenting a friend when they did well, especially when they bested her.

She'd had to actually bait Fandral into an all out battle to get the man to actually SPAR with her. One down side was that, after the Bifrost had been destroyed and everyone realized she and Thor were…well, she wasn't quite sure what they were, courting perhaps? When they realized that…she'd noticed they started to go easier on her when she dueled and sparred with them, like they were afraid if they hurt her Thor would come after them. That duel with Fandral though…she had to shake her head thinking about it, one result of her constant observation of others was that she knew just what buttons to push to goad them, just like Loki did at times, and she'd gotten Fandral so angry with her that he'd finally, FINALLY just outright attacked her. They'd fought so hard that they'd both ended up beaten, bloodied, and bruised, AND with her on her back with his sword at her throat…and she'd never laughed so hard.

It had startled Fandral out of his murderous rage and he'd stared at her, horrified at what he'd done and how badly he'd gone after her, till she swung out her leg and knocked his from beneath him, sending him onto his back as well, still laughing. He'd started to laugh as well, and the warriors around them too, all of them finally seeming to realize that she was still a warrior, she was still going to fight and she was still going to get hurt and to not go easy on her. She had had to quell Thor's anger afterwards though, when he'd walked in, hearing the laughter, and seen her beaten and bloodied on the ground, he'd almost gone after Fandral for harming her so badly. But she'd just stood up, beaming, and thrown herself into his arms and hugged him, telling him how happy she was that people would still fight with her and not treat her like a fair maiden but a Valkyrie. Thor had been a little startled, but she'd kissed him till he'd been distracted, taken his hand, and pulled him back into the palace with an actual skip. Yes, she would admit it, she skipped like a little girl she'd been so relieved. She'd tried to refuse going to the healing rooms afterwards, wanting to wear her bruises to remind the others not to dare go easy on her again, but Thor had insisted he take care of her with such softness and concern in his eyes that she let him tend to her that night and soothe her injuries.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked, pulling Athena's attention back. The man was…she wasn't sure what she thought of Steve just yet. She could tell that Tony was a very smart man, had a good sense of humor and was very loyal to this Pepper woman, he was a good friend as well, offering to help Coulson reunite with some woman, from the implication of his last words to the man. Natasha was guarded, she was skilled and she noticed the woman observing her and Thor as much as she was observing Natasha and the others. She was wise and quiet and she played to her strengths, she could respect that and she was rather hoping she might be able to get a spar in with the woman at one point. Banner seemed hesitant, shy, pained, but clever and contemplative. He had a good soul and he tried to do his best to help everyone while also keeping on point. But Steve…there was something about him, he took everything too seriously, he treated everyone like a soldier instead of a person at times and focused solely on the mission instead of the aspects of it. But she could also tell that he didn't like others getting harmed, but he seemed…distanced from them all.

"He'd have to heat the Cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Banner shook his head.

"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the Quantum Tunneling effect," Tony countered, completely losing Athena and Thor in the process.

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy-ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"Finally. Someone who speaks English."

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked.

"I…am not certain," Athena frowned, "That was not a form of English I am familiar with."

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner," Tony stepped up to Banner and shook his hand, "Your work on anti-electronic collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

"...thanks?" Banner frowned.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the Cube," Fury stated, striding into the room, "I was hoping you might join him."

"I'd start with that stick of his," Steve remarked, "It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."

"HYDRA again," Athena muttered, recalling Coulson bringing it up ages ago.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the Cube," Fury countered, "And I like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys?" Thor frowned at that, turning to Athena in question but she shrugged, "I do not understand."

"I do!" Steve shouted…and everyone stared at him, "I...I understood that reference."

"Would you explain it to us?" Athena gestured between her and Thor as Steve nodded.

"Shall we play, doctor?" Tony grinned, gesturing off to the side.

"This way, sir," Banner smiled, the two men walking off as Athena noticed the SHIELD agent from before turning back to his screen to play Galaga again…whatever that was.

A/N: I'm so sorry there were no chapters the last few days :( We had a thunder storm in my area that knocked out our power and we didn't get it back till (according to my clocks) about 3am-ish this morning -sigh- :( But...I'm happy to say that I should be back and updating at my normal times and daily without further incident ;)

This was sort of a little bit of a background chapter, filling things in for what happened before Thor and Athena appeared, I can say we'll have a bit of Thor/Athena in the next chapter ;)

Also, just wanted to say that, on my profile, I have a small section of 'future stories,' ones that I haven't written yet but have outlines and ideas for for various movies/shows/books and their pairings incase anyone is interested in them ;)

Some notes on reviews...

Aww thanks :) I'm glad you enjoyed Merlin/Star Trek/Sherlock ;) We'll have to wait and see about Superman, but I will be doing a Captain America series, 2 of them ;) One for Steve and one for Bucky. I won't be doing Teen Wolf, I have a mention about that on my profile the shows/movies/books I likely won't write stories for. Twilight sort of killed Vampires and Werewolves for me and I'm more of an old school sort of girl for both so I couldn't really get into Teen Wolf :/ But thank you :) It took almost a decade but my parents finally came around about my dreams for the future and my writing lol :)

I actually have it up on my profile that I've got a vague idea/plan for an Arrow story, Oliver/OC ;)

Lol, I've got it up on my profile plans for 2015 to do a Captain America story, 2 of them actually (eventually). One Steve/OC and another Bucky/OC ;) And thanks! :)

I was wondering that too, why they just started battling it out instead of restraining Loki first. We just see him chilling around and watching them fight so it always made me curious how they caught him if he could have just fled :)

I have a small section on my profile of future stories, I do have 2 different OC series planned for Captain America yup ;)


	4. Fears

Fears

Athena was standing in the Bridge of the ship they had been flying in, staring at the security footage of Loki, sitting in his glass cage, not even really moving or looking at all uneasy about being there. She'd been watching him since their last meeting had been dismissed, just trying to see if she could find anything in his behavior that would help them work out what he was planning or when it might happen.

Or at least that was what she had told the others.

Really…she was hardly even paying attention to Loki or how he was moving or sitting or his expressions. She couldn't focus and she knew that was dangerous. She was trying to, she really was, but it was just that…what her brother had said to her in her dream, it was getting to her more than it should. They were not at all easy to kill, her or Thor, anyone from Asgard, they were difficult. And, had her brother been calmer about it, she was sure she'd be more confident about this battle. But the way he had hugged her, the tears in his eyes, he was truly and deeply worried about her and for him to feel that profoundly and that certainly that her life was going to end being involved in this battle…she couldn't help but be wary.

She knew, as a warrior, that her life could end at any moment in the midst of battle, she was prepared for it, she had accepted it. But…that was the difference between battle and prophecy. She didn't know when it was coming in battle, she fought her hardest to survive and she knew there were so many ways that knowing her own demise could go that her mind was spinning with them. She could be reckless, she could go into the battle Loki was planning and not have a care or regard for her own life because, in her mind, she might feel that she already knew how she'd die and it wasn't there. She might be too reckless and end up getting herself killed because prophecy was tricky and there were always things unseen and undiscovered about it. She might be too cautious, she might run about with a constant look over her shoulder that her doom was coming and miss it being right in front of her. She might disregard it, she might pretend like it was wrong and that it wouldn't happen and then end up in a situation where it was happening just as her brother had seen and she could be killed. Or she might try to change it, try to do anything she could to avoid it and end up causing it to happen by means of doing so…or worse, cause someone else to take her place, like Thor.

She closed her eyes and let out a breath, reaching up a hand to rub her fingers to her forehead, there was too much, too many variables, too much that could go wrong or right and she…she didn't know what to do. She knew of her brother's prophecies, she'd seen them come about, most of them occurred just as he saw them, just as he interpreted them, but others happened as he saw them but were in a different context than he thought and had a different result than he believed it would lead to. She couldn't even put stock in either occurrence happening as she wouldn't know if it would happen just as he saw and thought it would or if there was something missing. She couldn't take that risk and it was doing her head in. Her thoughts were going in circles and she needed to stop thinking about her potentially inevitable death.

This was why she hated prophecies, they hung over you even when you tried your best not to let them, to ignore them. But if she ignored them it might be even more doom and destruction for others. It was just a big mess and it was starting to consume her life, thoughts and attention and she couldn't risk that happening. The agents there were counting on her and Thor to help them, to protect them, to face Loki and battle him as equals, to guess at what his play was and to help give them any insight they could about what was going on. This was not the time nor the place to be fretting about her own death on the horizon. She wasn't even sure if she was going to die! She shouldn't be focusing on this.

But she knew why she was, what a large part of her concerns were based around.

She glanced over at Thor who was speaking to Coulson as the man seemed to type something into his 'computer' as he'd described it. THOR, he was her biggest concern in all of this. How would he react if the prophecy happened as her brother feared? If she died…at the hands of his brother, what would he do? She was worrying more about him, she realized, than her own life.

If she died, she died, that would be it. She had no qualms about it, she had no illusions that she'd live to the end of eternity and not fall in some battle or another. Even the bravest fighters, the wisest warrior, and the most skilled swordsman could fall at any time. She made peace with that. It was everyone else around her she worried about.

Her family…

She knew it was an enormous risk to leave them and join the Asgardian warriors. They had had so many issues for so long and had only just started to heal with each other, get along again, be a family. Her death (the death of any of her siblings or family members really) would drive an enormous wedge in their progress. It was like a fragile glue that was holding them all together, growing stronger by the decade and century, but still tentative. Any death could shake that, break it, send them all crumbling back into the pit they'd clawed themselves out of. She didn't want that. She knew how vengeful her family could be and she didn't want them to sink into that nor did she want them to turn their anger on Odin and Frigga and Thor. She had left them, making them promise that they would not seek out vengeance if she happened to fall while staying with them and training. They had given their word but she knew that the ties of blood for them was important and it would overrule their promise to her.

And then there was Thor.

He would be devastated if he lost her, just as much as she would turn into a raging monster and slaughter whoever had dared kill him herself. She hadn't realized just how far she was willing to go for him, how deep her feelings actually ran till the Destroyer had killed him, till she had seen him lying in the streets, unmoving and dead and her heart had broken and she hadn't even thought. She'd just run in front of a blast meant for him and had been willing to drop the shield, to take the blast and join him as warriors in the afterlife. She hadn't even realized she'd done that till the Destroyer had been destroyed. It was a sharp wake up call to her just how much she cared for him and loved him and she knew, in her heart, if anything like what she feared was coming for her happened to him there would be no stopping her from slaughtering the one who took his life, nothing short of death would keep her back. And she knew that Thor would be the same.

She finally understood what he meant by how she should react instead of think, how much more powerful raw emotion could be instead of carefully thought out blows. When powered by anger or grief it could be a truly devastating amount of power put into blows and the like, and Thor had always been more feeling and emotive than she was. He reacted to slights, he was better now, thought more, didn't let smaller things get to him, but if she fell before him…at Loki's hands…she was truly scared for what that would mean for Loki and for Asgard. She and Sif had spoken once, about Thor and Sif, about how Sif had once been fond of Thor in that manner but had since moved on. Sif claimed she had never seen Thor take to someone like he had hear, to seek someone out, to hoard her time to himself and desire her attention and thoughts and advice. To Sif, she felt that Thor was genuinely and deeply in love with her and if that was as deep as Sif seemed to feel it was…her death would shatter him, it would drive him into a rage and…

The last thing she wanted was for Thor to kill his brother. She had seen enough of that in her own family, plots against the others, sororicide, fratricide, matricide and patricide and just blood spilt within the family and she didn't want that for Thor. She didn't want him to turn into a monster that would slaughter his own brother out of rage and revenge. She didn't want him to return to Asgard as a broken man and a cruel and heartless king. Frigga had told her a short while ago, as they talked amidst her preparations for her dream connection, that she hadn't seen Thor so happy and open with another as he was with her. She claimed that Thor had given her his whole heart to keep for eternity and, while she was sure it wasn't for eternity, Frigga seemed certain that it was she who would be the next Queen of Asgard after Odin stepped down. They had tried to do another coronation but Thor had refused. Before he had been eager for the throne, but this time he merely wished to be worthy of it in his heart first.

She was truly worried how careless and reckless Thor might become in the throes of his anger and sorrow and hurt. She didn't want him to make a mistake, to attack blindly and get himself killed. A conscious (or subconscious) decision to surrender one's life to be with another was one thing, to be so consumed by emotions as to lose one's head in battle and end up being killed…that was another thing. And it wasn't just Thor's life on the line, his heart…she didn't want to break his heart, she never wanted to hurt him and she knew her death would break his heart. She wanted him to be a strong and good king and the only thing she could think of to get her through this, to get her through the constant worrying and fear of what Thor would be like after her death, if she did die, was the hope that…maybe it wouldn't be like how she feared. Maybe, just maybe, her death would drive him to be a better king, to rule in her memory and be wiser and more thoughtful, to plan things out and react less, to give more consideration to things and to try and be calm as he could be. Maybe her death would be a turning point to him accepting the throne so HE could protect his people from the throne instead of the battlefield, so he could avoid it getting to a battle in the first place.

She doubted that second one would happen, Thor would likely rage first, but if he lived…she had to hope that it would turn out for the better for him in the end.

She shook her head, this was truly the WORST time to be fretting on all this. She was a warrior, she was someone who tried to keep her mind as unbiased and focused as she could and she needed to focus now. Too many people were depending on her. She glanced at Thor again, watching him a moment longer as he leaned over to see something Coulson was showing him but pulled her attention away a moment later, watching Loki but still paying attention to what was being said around her.

_"As soon as Loki took the doctor," Coulson was telling Thor, "We_ moved Jane Foster," he glanced up to look at Athena a moment before focusing on Thor, "We've got an excellent observatory in Tromso. She was asked to consult there very suddenly yesterday. Handsome fee, private plane, very remote. She'll be safe."

"Thank you," Thor clapped Coulson on the shoulder, "It's no accident Loki taking Erik Selvig. I dread what he plans for him once he's done. Erik is a good man."

"He talks about you a lot," Coulson remarked, his gaze flickering to Athena once more as he and Thor began to walk across the Bridge, "You and Athena changed his life. You changed everything around here, especially my security systems," he chuckled, thinking of how easily they'd been able to get through his men.

"They were better as they were," Thor shook his head, "We pretend on Asgard that we're more advanced, but we…we come here battling like Bildschneip!"

"Like what?" Coulson frowned.

"Bildschneip."

Coulson glanced at Athena, half expecting her to elaborate for Thor, but she was just standing before a monitor, fiddling with a coin on a chain and frowning at Loki.

"You know," Thor continued, "Huge, scaly, big antlers. You don't have those?"

"No."

"Huh," he murmured, "Well they are repulsive, and they trample everything in their path," he paused beside a large window, looking out at the clouds and land below, "When Athena and I first came to earth, Loki's rage followed me here and your people paid the price. And now again. In my youth I courted war…"

"I thought you courted Athena?" Coulson frowned, the way the man had rushed to her defense and protected her in their base made him think Athena had been his wife or something, though he'd said sister to test that.

"No we have only just begun our courtship," Thor smiled at that.

"War hasn't started yet," Fury's voice called as he strode into the room, Coulson noting that Athena still had yet to turn to glance at him despite him and Thor doing just that, "You think you can make Loki tell us where the Tesseract is?"

"I do not know," Thor sighed, "Loki's mind is far afield, it's not just power he craves, it's vengeance upon me. There's no pain would pries his need from him."

"A lot of guys think that, until the pain starts."

"What are you asking me to do?" Thor frowned, sensing something in the man's words.

"I'm asking, what are you prepared to do?" Fury countered.

"Loki is a prisoner," Thor argued though he knew that torture was sometimes an accepted method in the realms. Asgard did apply this technique to enemies but…just knowing Loki was his brother and the enemy made him hesitant to see it happen to his brother.

"Then why do I feel like he's the only person on this boat that wants to be here?"

"We've established that he's here for a reason," Coulson cut in, not wanting the two men to start arguing, "We just don't know what that purpose is."

Fury let out a frustrated breath at that and pointed at Thor, "You, come with me. We need to have a chat about how to deal with Loki and get something out of him."

Thor nodded, casting a glance at Athena before he followed Fury to the other end of the room, leaving Coulson and Athena on the other side. Coulson glanced between the two, taking Fury's point at Thor to mean that he wasn't needed and made his way over to Athena.

"I don't think you're the real Athena," he remarked out of nowhere, making her look at him.

"I'm sorry?" Athena blinked.

"You may have the grey eyes and the snakey breastplate going for you," Coulson shrugged easily, "But Athena's got brown hair not blonde."

"You have met the real Athena then?" she started to smile.

"You tell me," he challenged with an easy smirk of his own, making her laugh a little, "Care to tell me what's bothering you?"

Her smile turned down, "There is nothing ill at ease in my mind," she turned back to the image of Loki on the monitor.

"You know, we're trained in a few fields here," he began, turning to look at Loki too, thinking it might make her more open to talk if he wasn't staring at her, "We're trained to know when someone's lying," he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, "I won't force you to talk…"

"Like Fury intends to do with Loki?" she cut in.

"Yeah," he frowned at that, understanding that Loki was one of their own, she wouldn't want to be a part of torturing him any more than he'd want to torture Hill.

"It wouldn't work anyway," she remarked.

This time he blinked, "How do you know that?"

"Have you not been watching him?" she gestured at the monitor, of Loki sitting rigidly, hardly moving, seeming to be focusing on his breathing, "I have known Loki for a very long time and that is not how he sits. He slouches to the side. He would sooner lean on his elbow or on the floor and put an arm to the bench than sit like that."

"You're gathering that torture won't work because he's sitting up straight?"

"I am gathering that he is sitting up straight because he has already been tortured," she countered and his eyes widened, "You said that Agent Barton's eyes were entirely blue, an eerie unnatural blue. Loki's are not. He is not being controlled by the scepter, but he IS being controlled if partially. The way he moves, the way he sits, the flickers of emotion on his face…" she shook her head, tilting it, "He has already been tortured Coulson. He would be able to withstand anything you or the others attempt on him and he would only break when it is already too late."

Coulson eyed Loki closely, trying to see what she had and…then he did. Loki was sitting slightly hunched over, not moving any more than he had to. Every move that he did make, no matter how small, brought a small flicker of a flinch to his face. His hands were curled in fists on his knees and he could see how he didn't inhale deeply but shallowly and slowly, as though he were both trying to focus on breathing and controlling the pain. He had gotten a few glimpses of Loki from just after he'd arrived, had been told reports by Hill and Fury, how Loki's skin was pale, bags under his eyes, a crazed look in them. Hill had remarked, in passing, how Loki had grunted and winced when he got into the car that Barton had stolen. He was sure he hadn't seen it before because he wasn't looking for the signs and Loki was doing his damnedest to hide them, but he saw them now…

Loki had been tortured.

It made sense why he would hide that from them, he wouldn't want them to know, to use that as a weakness against him. But Athena, who had been watching him like a hawk since he'd first been put in the glass case, had seen it. She had been the only one watching him long enough to see it, had been the only one watching him so long that knew what he was like enough to see the differences in his actions.

He looked back and forth between the monitor and her, seeing something else in her eyes, "There's something more," he murmured, "I won't ask what. I just wanted you to know…you're safe here…" he frowned when she scoffed at that, "You don't feel safe."

Athena swallowed hard and glanced over her shoulder at Thor before she turned back to Coulson, studying him closely, eyeing him as though she were trying to determine how trustworthy he was for her to speak to him. He remained quiet, smiling gently at her, trying to not push her and show her that she could tell him and he'd not interrogate her for the information.

"I won't pry," he repeated, "I just thought you seemed distracted and quiet and burdened. If I can help at all, that's what I'm here for."

Athena eyed him a moment longer before sighing, glancing at Thor once more to make sure he wasn't near her before she turned back to him, "My brother, he's a…what you would call a Seer, a Prophet, um…and Oracle?" he nodded along, understanding what she meant, "He had a vision of me…in that room," she nodded to the monitor where the glass cage was, "Loki was out of it and…he was killing me."

"We won't let that happen," Coulson promised her, understanding now why she was so distracted by the image of Loki in the cage. It wasn't just that she WAS watching him for any more clues about him and what happened, she was also watching to make sure he was STILL in the cage and not free to come after her, "Do you know how it happens?" he asked, if anything did happen and Loki got out, he wanted to know as much as he could to help protect her. As Thor had promised before they'd last left, they were allies now and allies protected each other.

"No," she sighed, "It was very vague and disjointed for him, he just…saw a man in black and green, with black hair and a scepter…killing me in a room with a glass cage."

Coulson nodded and glanced at Thor, realizing something else, "Thor doesn't know, does he?"

He rather suspected that if Thor had known, Loki would be dead already or at least unconscious or chained up even more.

"No he doesn't," Athena told him, "And I will not have him find out," she hinted at a threat in her voice, "It will distract him and…we can only afford one of us distracted at a time."

"I understand," he nodded, "But we WILL do everything we can to protect you and Thor while you're with us helping us. You do know that."

"Yes," she nodded, offering him a small smile for his efforts, "And I thank you for that, but Loki is Thor and my responsibility, he is our mission and it will fall to us to protect you."

"Oh, you never know," Coulson smiled, "We have a few weapons here that might surprise you."

"Athena!" Fury called from across the room, making her glance at him over her shoulder, "A word."

She nodded, tucking her coin chain into her armor once more before she gave Coulson a nod farewell and moved over to where Fury was standing with Thor and Natasha.

"I want you and Thor to tell Agent Romanoff anything you can about Loki that will help her interrogate him," Fury ordered.

"You wish us to divulge personal information about Loki?" Athena frowned at that, Thor seeming just as uncomfortable with the request even if it meant helping them find out what was going on.

"Whatever you tell me will stay in my head and my head alone," Natasha promised, "I'll guard his secrets with my life and only use what I need to get to him. I have a very…unique way of getting information."

"You will not torture him?" Thor inquired.

"No, I talk to him," Natasha added.

"Information like you request is only to be divulged between warriors," Athena stated, "Have you a training ground here?"

"We have a gym," Natasha frowned a moment, not sure what she meant.

"Then we shall have a spar," Athena determined, "If you can best me, it will mean that you are strong enough to not let secrets slip to others."

"Why not let me fight the big guy?" Natasha nodded at Thor, "I CAN take him."

"I have no doubts," Athena agreed, "But Thor still tends to lose himself in a fight, I have always been able to assess as I fight."

Natasha considered that a moment before looking at Fury for permission, "Whatever gets the information," he rolled his eye and that was all the permission Natasha needed to lead Athena and Thor away.

Athena smirked as she moved to nudge Thor, seeing him frowning as they walked, "What is it?"

"I should fight," he remarked, "He is MY brother. Why must it be you?"

Athena just put a hand on his arm, "You don't still think I am interested in women do you?" she teased, recalling how he'd once, for a second or two, assumed she had been interested in Sif in the middle of trying to explain her feelings for HIM.

"No, of course not," Thor muttered, though she saw his hands clench into fists again.

"I am not interested in Steve, Tony, Banner, Fury, or Coulson either," she added, squeezing his arm till he looked at her, "I am only, and have only ever been, interested in YOU, Thor."

Thor glanced at her for that, a smug smile making its way across his face as he stood a little straighter while they walked, Athena rolling her eyes at how pleased he was about that.

~8~

Athena winced as she placed an ice packet that Coulson gave her behind her neck, Thor grinning smugly, but with concern in his eyes, from beside her. Natasha had won their spar. She had truly proven that she had a unique way of getting information out of people, she had taken what she'd said about assessing as she fought to mean that was her natural fighting method and used it against her. She didn't use any of the same techniques or moves, but surprised her, ending the fight in her getting slammed to the ground with Natasha's thighs around her neck. She had then praised the woman and requested she teach her that move when this was over…much to Thor's alarm as he could only guess what that technique would mean for her battles in Asgard…likely victory. But her neck was sore from the slam and now she was applying ice to it, very impressed with Natasha.

They were all standing in the Bridge, watching her approach Loki on the monitor as he paced, "Hmm," he glanced over, "There's not many people that can sneak up on me."

"But you figured I'd come," Natasha moved to stand before him.

"After," he nodded, "After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate."

"I wanna know what you've done to Agent Barton."

"I'd say I've expanded his mind."

"That sounds like what he said about the Tesseract," Athena murmured, though they both knew that the Tesseract had likely not affected him as much as the physical and mental torture he'd endured.

"And once you've won," Natasha frowned, "Once you're king of the mountain. What happens to his mind?"

"Is this love, Agent Romanoff?" Loki smirked.

Natasha schooled her face into a neutral expression, "Love is for children. I owe him a debt."

"Tell me."

She hesitated before continuing, "Before I worked for SHIELD, I uh well, I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set. I didn't care who I used it for, or on. I got on SHIELD's radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me, he made a different call."

"And what will you do if I vow to spare him?" Loki leaned in.

"Not let you out," she scoffed.

"Ah, no," he laughed, "But I like this. Your world in the balance, and you bargain for one man?"

"Regime's fall every day. I tend not to weep over that, I'm Russian, or I was."

"And what are you now?"

"It's really not that complicated," she stated, "I got red in my ledger. I'd like to wipe it out."

Athena's eyes narrowed at that as she watched her, so that was her technique, tell him just enough of the truth that he believed her, but not tell him everything. Make him think he had the upper hand and that he was the winner, the one in control and he would let slip everything…

And so it appeared he was.

"Can you?" he scoffed at that, "Can you wipe out that much red? Drakov's daughter? Sao Paulo? The hospital fire? Barton told me everything. Your ledger is _dripping_, it's gushing red, and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? This is the basest sentimentality. This is a child, a prayer. Pathetic_. _You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors. But they are a part of you, and they will never go away," he slammed his fist against the glass, making her jump back, but Athena could see it was a second delayed, just a second, she had forced herself to act like that, "I won't touch Barton! Not until I make him kill you. Slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear," Natasha stepped back, her eyes wide with fear, "And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work," he grinned as she turned away, "And when he screams I'll split his skull! This is my bargain, you mewling quim!"

Natasha bowed her head, sounding as though she were starting to cry, "You're a monster!"

Loki just grinned madly, "Oh, no. _You_ brought the monster."

And then, as though a light had just turned on, Natasha lifted her head and turned back to him, her face entirely dry, devoid of any sorrow or fear, as she seemed almost exasperated that it had been so easy, "So, Banner? That's your play."

"What?" Loki blinked.

But Natasha just grinned and turned to leave, "Loki means to unleash the Hulk," she called into the comms, "Keep Banner in the lab, I'm on my way. Send Thor and Athena as well," she paused and turned back to Loki in the doorway, smirking mockingly at him, "Thank you, for your cooperation!"

Athena smiled as Natasha turned and strode out of the room, "I like her. She would make a good Valkyrie."

A/N: I'm starting to think the karma gods have it out for me for posting so timely for so long before :( This morning I went to upload and post the chapters and my MS word (which I'd edited it on last night) wouldn't let it because apparently I've been using a Trial version of it for the last few months and it expired :( All my MS documents wouldn't open or copy or upload or anything :( I had to run to work and then went to the nearest Staples the second I got out, bought MS word, put it on my computer the minute I got home, and then tried to get the documents opening again :( -sigh- That's what I get for thinking, 'oh, I'll upload the edited chapters to Doc Manager in the morning' which I never really do, I usually edit it in Doc Manager but my internet was doing the weird working/not working thing and I didn't want to risk all the editing disappearing when I went to save :( But I finally got MS working again! Woo! I hope you enjoy the chapter :) I'll do my best to make sure this doesn't happen again and that the stories can really and truly be updated at their normal times again :)

Some notes on reviews...

I wanted to wish a very happy birthday to DRWfangirl! I hope you have a fantastic day! :)


	5. Charged Emotions

Charged Emotions

Athena supposed it should have been obvious from the start, what Loki's plan had been. She felt it even more keenly as she walked through the halls of the base with Thor. Loki had been so fixated on Banner and the 'Hulk' he turned into, knowing about the glass cage, knowing who it was meant for. It was like every word he said was something to try and trigger Banner, to remind him that he was a monster and try to incite him to turn against the agents around him. She should have realized it, it was so clear to her now why he was fixated on the man. To put a man like Banner in a craft like this...one single instance of anger that could unleash the Hulk and everyone, every single person both in the craft and in the towns below them would be in danger. The ship was held together well, it was strong, but if the Hulk went on a rampage through it...it would be torn apart, and all the people in it would likely be killed either from a crash or from the Hulk himself. THAT had been Loki's plan from the start, to try and get the Hulk out of hiding.

It was why he'd let himself get captured, because he knew, from Barton, the cage that they had made for Banner. He knew exactly what Banner was like, what the SHIELD agents feared of him, and what they knew of his strength. He would know the cage was certainly strong enough for the Hulk, that the agents had likely studied just how powerful the creature was. He knew Fury's first course of action would be to detain him and the only thing he would have on hand would be the glass cage. She knew, Fury had been wrong, the cage wasn't meant for someone stronger than them. She, Thor, and Loki could easily break out of it and if Fury thought that the cage could hold the Hulk then that answered her questions about the Hulk's strength and who would win in a fight between them, likely Thor. But that was the point, Fury was so sure that the cage would hold the Hulk and, since the Hulk was the strongest person he knew, he was adamant that it would hold Loki as well.

Loki could have easily gotten out of it...but he was choosing to stay IN it because then they'd have no place to put Banner and secure him. He was taking up the space in the cage for a reason. To keep Banner out. It was rather perfect in its simplicity in a way. If they opened the cage door to shove Banner in, Loki would get out. If they somehow managed to get Banner inside well, Loki would just unleash the beast with his taunting and digs and then let Banner out of the cage with him. If they, in some manner, got Loki out of the cage and Banner in it, then Loki was free. There was no win at all for any side now that Loki was there and in the cage. They could hope that she and Thor would be able to deal with Loki, retrain him, keep watch over him, but that was another issue. Loki KNEW them, he knew what they were like, he knew how they fought, their methods and their training and he had already proven he knew how to manipulate Thor into reacting instead of thinking, even with Athena beside him. She was rather adept at ignoring those around her when she wanted to, her brothers and sisters could be a very rambunctious bunch and one needed to be able to tune them out at times so as to not go insane. There was always some sort of trickery going on with her siblings so she knew how to spot it in others. But that only meant Loki wouldn't likely best her in the mind games but he very well could likely best her in physical combat. She would stoop so low as to use his injuries against him, the torture that had been inflicted on him was likely to leave scars and still tender wounds and she would use whatever was her advantage to subdue him, something she noticed Natasha did as well and she respected her for it.

Now that they knew Loki's game had been a bid for Banner, she knew what the next course of action would be, either to detain him (which would likely make him angry) or to try and keep him calm. She was a fan of the second option, but she had a lingering fear that it would be far more difficult than they knew. Not only was everyone being called to a lab that Tony and Banner had retreated to, but...the mix of personalities alone would not be good for anyone, she was sure. She and Thor, they had no issue with Banner, they did not know this Hulk figure, they only saw the man he was and, while she knew Thor was more cautious of his wording around Banner so as not to allow any 'cultural differences' anger or insult the man, neither she nor Thor were really all that concerned with him. They were both quite certain that they could handle Banner if need be so if he turned into a 'green rage monster' as Tony had called it, then so be it and they would see it dealt with.

But that was them.

Natasha, for all her bravado, she could see the tension increase in her shoulders and how much straighter she stood when she had to be around Banner. She could see how the woman tried to keep distance from him, stand closer to others, how her hands always seemed to linger nearer her weapon when Banner was in the same room. She caught the woman's gaze both flicker to Banner and also try its best to avoid looking at him and while some might think it was some sort of attraction between the two, she knew it was really fear. Natasha was scared of Banner, she was terrified of this Hulk most likely, and she would be the one most likely to be focusing on Banner. But that attention wouldn't help him, she knew, to be confronted with someone who was terrified of you and trying to placate you...it only served to make you angrier. She knew that from first hand experience when one of her...she wasn't sure what to call her, a friend? An acquaintance? Employee? She had been very, VERY insulted once when a woman she knew had shown enormous disrespect for her, had broken a few rules that had been set, had gotten her uncle involved with her and she had been furious! She had stormed to the woman who had cowered in fear of her and began to try and plead for herself and beg her and blame her uncle and so many other things that it had just made her even more embittered and raging. She had dealt with that woman easily and, even though she knew this was a different situation, she could relate to Banner in that. You didn't want pity, you didn't' want people trying to control you out of their own fear. He likely had trouble trusting the people around him as it was because of the glass cage, seeing someone terrified of you and trying to manipulate you for their own selfish reasons was only going to anger him.

And then there was Tony and Steve, the two men hardly seemed able to be in the same room together without starting some sort of argument or bicker. The shouting and arguing alone could drive anyone mad and to expose someone to shouting would just mean making them feel like shouting or the need to shout to be heard. She could tell that Tony respected Banner as an intellectual equal and that he didn't seem bothered by the Hulk part of him at all. He didn't filter himself or baby Banner, he treated the man like a human being instead of a potential monster and she could tell that Banner both appreciated and respected that. Tony would defend Banner from them all and it would make him a target and make Banner feel obligated and guilty because of it. Steve wouldn't make anything better. He seemed to feel he was entitled to 'team leader' status because he was a captain, well if that was the case she and Thor were the rules of the land as gods. She wasn't sure what training Steve had had, he was a fair leader from what she could see but he almost seemed to take authority when there wasn't a need for someone to do it. On that note, just how much battle had the man seen? He didn't seem as battle hardened as she or Thor were, did he even know how to fight a person like Loki or the Chitauri, his army? They were not of human design and, by that logic, should not be fought with human strategy. But she doubted Steve would see it that way, he would think only of the safety of the crew and vessel, which was right, but he seemed almost too focused on tasks at times, like he had something to prove to them all, that he could do it. He would be harsh and to the point and try to follow a rigid protocol when it came to Banner and that would just make the man tense and uneasy all the more.

Fury as well wouldn't help the situation by being there. He was rather intimidating and the fact that he had had the glass case and, in no uncertain terms, implied it was for Banner, it wouldn't endear him to the man. Fury would probably try to control his rowdy makeshift agents and would just end up getting frustrated and irritated with all of them and start shouting. He didn't seem to know how to talk to someone without it coming out gruff and commanding and intimidating and that wasn't what Banner needed. The man seemed to just barely be keeping a hold of his anger and his mind and his emotions and to add the stress of being surrounded and looked at as though he were about to snap at any moment, to have Fury treating him like a threat instead of a guest would be detrimental. She was of the opinion that they shouldn't do a thing, that they should stay back and let Tony handle it and go about his business as though Loki hadn't said a word.

She was starting to consider that Loki might have spotted Natasha's ruse and purposefully let slip about the Hulk and how he was planning to use the man as some sort of distraction to take them all out. It made sense though, that he'd do that, he was trapped in a glass cage that, while it kept him getting out, or so Fury believed, it would also protect harm from getting in. He would probably just sit there and read a book while the battle went on around him, perfectly safe and uncaring till it was over and he could escape or the ship crashed and he survived due to the cage and he escaped. Either way, all of it meant that he was likely to escape and that would only serve to put everyone ill at ease. She had to wonder if he knew that, the moment they worked out it was Banner he was after, they'd go confront the man and try to restrain him before he even did anything. Maybe that had been his plot, to get them all to a point where THEY inadvertently released the monster inside him.

She let out a long breath as she neared the lab with Thor, whatever the case was, whatever reason Loki had let that slip, they would have to tread carefully. They couldn't risk falling into one of Loki's traps, not now, not there, not where they were cut off, where there was such a high risk of destruction and casualties. This wasn't an open battlefield, this wasn't something she or Thor had trained in, but they would do all they could to prevent the battle occurring. She could only hope that whatever torture Loki had endured, it hadn't addled his mind to the point where neither she nor Thor could guess what his next move would be. An unhinged mind was far more dangerous than a logical one, it made no sense, it saw things others didn't, it was more creative and less caring of consequences and if Loki had reached that point of seeing mere pawns instead of people around him, then that would not be well for anyone.

They could hear voices as they approached with Natasha, having been led there by her, "Phase Two is SHIELD used the Cube to make weapons," Steve was saying, "Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract," Fury defended, "This does not mean that we're..."

Athena closed her eyes at that, she had feared that, when she had heard that they had done tests and studies of the Tesseract. It was not an artifact that humans were meant to use or even have in their possession due to how powerful and dangerous it was. Humans had a troubling habit of either locking up what they didn't understand or examining it too closely. She had experienced one of them when SHIELD had taken her from the Bifrost landing area and chained her up, not sure who she was or what she was or what she could do. But the Tesseract...that was different, she knew energy, especially to humans was tempting and tantalizing, a source of power to them. And she would have been just fine if they were studying the Tesseract to see what it was and where it came from and return it.

But to hear that they were trying to make weapons out of it?

She supposed it shouldn't have surprised her much, humans were notorious for trying to turn everything in their hands into weapons. From the sharp wooden writing instruments Jane had used to the small keys that Darcy had carried, she was sure that they had, at one point, realized the potential weapons on them. Humans were always trying to find a new way to fight, a new method for war and, while she knew those of Asgard would be proud of their prowess in battle and in coming up with weapons to face their enemies, she knew that war only begot war. And any and all weapons that they tried to make from the Tesseract would be ones they wouldn't fully understand, weapons that they might end up making things worse with. Or...it could be weapons that would destroy them in the end. True, they might (MIGHT) work out a way to use the Tesseract to make an actual, functioning, usable weapon, but then what? If they win one war, what would follow? Would they use the weapons of the Tesseract only for war or would it eventually fall into the wrong hands that would use it for taking over and for keeping others in line, under their thumb, in their control? Humans took more power than they knew how to handle and now that she knew they were making weapons out of the Tesseract, it was even more imperative that she and Thor get the box and bring it back to Asgard.

Glancing at Thor, she knew he felt the same. She could see it in how he tensed, how his step faltered for only a single moment, how he clenched his fists at the knowledge that an Asgardian item was being used in such a way. They would stop this, they would get the Tesseract back before any harm could come to the humans from using it.

Everyone was already in the room, Fury standing in the middle of it, with Tony and Banner at a work bench, Steve standing near them but looking at the director, when she, Thor and Natasha entered. The three men were staring hard at Fury who was just as rigid, tall, and proud as ever, and staring at them through his narrowed good eye.

"I'm sorry, Nick," Tony reached out to a monitor and turned it around to face him, showing plans that all of them could recognize as plans for a weapon of some sort, revealing that Fury had been about to lie and say they weren't building weapons or planning to, "What were you lying?"

"I was wrong, Director," Steve glared, "The world hasn't changed a bit."

Banner looked over at them, seeing them entering the room and walking up to them, "Did you know about this?" he asked, more of Natasha than of Thor or Athena, knowing that they'd only been there a short while but that Natasha was working for SHIELD.

Natasha didn't answer at all, only stated, "You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?"

Athena nearly shook her head at that, for how skilled Natasha was in many other areas, she wasn't exactly subtle in some. As though that would ease Banner at all, as though that wouldn't alarm him. She knew that Banner had been _brought_ there, having them tell him or 'ask' him if he wanted to leave was not going to fool him.

Nor did it, it seemed, as Banner just laughed, "I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed."

"Loki's manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what exactly?" Banner countered.

"Astute," Athena remarked, nodding at Banner as he gave her a small smile, though she stepped nearer to Thor.

Banner's smile almost fell at that, thinking she'd done it because he'd looked at her, because she saw the monster as well, but realized that Thor was unhappy with her compliment to him and she was merely reminding him it was only that, reminding him with her nearness, reassuring HIM instead of herself.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," Natasha reminded him.

"Yes," he scoffed, "And I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy."

"Well said," Athena nodded, "You have a right to be here, as do the others, more so as you were invited," she gave Fury a pointed look about how she and Thor had essentially been taken there as more...comfortable prisoners than an actual one like Loki, "What I wish to know, is why you are using the Tesseract to try and build weapons?"

"Weapons of mass destruction," Tony added, crossing his arms and looking at Fury expectantly.

"Because of them," Fury pointed at Thor and Athena, making them frown.

"Us?" Thor scoffed.

"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly hilariously, out-gunned."

"And you think one attack is a precedent for others?" Athena shook her head at him, "As though every 'visitor' shall be hostile and wish to harm you? How will that ever help relations between your people and anyone if you automatically assume that war is coming instead of peace?"

It was ridiculous! To go into anything expecting war and expecting the worst would only make it happen. One side would be so invested and focused on the negative that they would end up creating the opportunity for war, or worse, initiating it.

"Our people want nothing but peace with your planet," Thor agreed.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you?" Fury countered, "And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled."

"And how does it make you any better than them to try and out match and control THEM?" Athena nearly spat, disgusted by the hypocrisy of it, "Control of another thing is dangerous."

"Like you controlled the cube," even Steve had to agree to that, all this damage had been done because Fury and his partners had been so focused on learning how to use the Tesseract instead of just finding out where it came from and trying to return it or hold onto it till the owners came looking for it.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies," Thor nodded, "It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war."

"A higher form?!" Steve rounded on him.

Athena frowned, not sure if the man was upset from the idea of a worse war or offended that they thought the wars that had already been fought were 'lesser' or medieval in comparison.

"You forced our hand!" Fury defended, "We had to come up with some..."

"Nuclear deterrent?" Tony cut in, "Cause that always calms everything right down."

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Fury glared, snapping at him.

Athena's frown deepened at how Fury had snapped at the man, he had been described to her as always in control of his emotions and there he was, shouting and yelling.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep..." Steve muttered.

"Wait, wait!" Tony held up his hands, "Hold on! How is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve mocked.

Athena looked at him sharply, that...was not like Steve either, he always seemed mild mannered and polite. She started to look around, something was happening here.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor muttered to her, making her look at her, THAT was slightly more typical of Thor though...

"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury rounded on Thor.

"Are you boys really that naive?" Natasha scoffed, "S.H.I.E.L.D monitors potential threats."

"You furious?" Tony turned to Thor and Steve, "I'm furious."

"Why?" Athena asked them, why were they suddenly all so furious and shouting and at each other throats? There was nothing to incite such anger as this. Unless...Loki. This had Loki written all over it! But how was he doing it?!

"And Captain America is on the threat poll?" Banner turned to Natasha.

"We all are!" she cried.

"That's not your concern doctor!" Fury pointed at him.

Athena looked around, trying to find some sign of what was going on, and it caught her eye. As everyone around her started to shout and argue, the scepter, the one that had been taken from Loki, was glowing faintly.

"You're on that list?" Tony looked at Steve, "Are you above or below angry bees?"

"I swear to God, Stark, one more crack..." Steve grit his teeth.

"You're a threat. I feel threatened!"

"Show some respect!"

"Respect what?!"

"Yeah man, handle me now, that'll be good," Banner started to laugh tensely, no one seeming to notice that the shouting was just increasing the fury they were all feeling.

Athena shook her head, feeling it creeping up on her as well, wanting to shout at them all that they were all being so stupid and making themselves vulnerable in their anger. But she forced it down, she physically bit her tongue to keep herself quiet as she made her way around the throng of arguing males and towards the scepter, maybe if she could just destroy it...

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos!" Thor pointed at Fury, getting lost in the argument as well.

"It's his MO, isn't it?" Banner chuckled darkly, "I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're/we're a time bomb."

"You need to step away," Fury turned to Banner.

But Tony moved in front of him, defending his friend, just as Athena thought he would, which was lucky for her as it allowed her to slip behind him and try to examine the scepter, "Why shouldn't they guy let off a little steam?"

"You know damn well why!" Steve shouted, "Back off!"

Athena glancing up as she heard his words, the Steve had glimpsed didn't seem one to use language like that, and she knew the control the scepter had on them was just growing but...what if it wasn't the scepter and control, what if it was just the scepter starting it and their fury was feeding it, making it stronger?

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me," Tony challenged.

"Yeah, big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

"I think I would just cut the wire."

"Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero, like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."

Steve smirked at that, "Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds."

Thor laughed at that, shaking his head as he and Natasha stood to the side, more amused to watch than get involved now, which was not helping the situation at all, "You people are so petty, and tiny."

"Yeah, this is a team," Banner remarked.

Fury grit his teeth, "Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his..."

"Where?" Banner scoffed, "You rented my room!"

"The cell was just..."

"In case you needed to kill me," Banner cut in, "But you can't, I know, I tried," everyone stopped at that, falling silent as they looked at him, Banner shuffling slightly at it, Athena's glance falling to a small monitor that had a wire connected to the scepter, seeing the lines that had been growing higher starting to fall and let out a breath, hopefully it meant the control the scepter had over them was lessening as she truly didn't know how to stop it, "I got low," he shrugged, "I didn't see an end so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on, I focused on helping other people. I was good until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk," he looked at Natasha, "You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"

But their gaze wasn't on him, but on Athena behind him, Steve taking a step forward as Natasha and Fury put their hands on their guns, "Put down the scepter Athena."

"Do not dare lay a hand on her," Thor was in Steve's way in an instant, glaring at Fury and Natasha for even thinking to touch their weapons.

"What is she doing?" Natasha asked quietly, watching as Athena held the scepter in both hands, frowning at it.

"You cannot tell me none of you realized how childish and angry you were acting only moments ago," Athena glanced at them, "It is the scepter..." she shook her head, "I can feel the energy in it, it is calling out to the Tesseract...it is trying to control you from a distance."

Banner hesitated at that, before hurrying over to a monitor and typing something in, his eyes widening, "It IS calling out," he muttered before looking at them, stunned, "And it's helped us locate the Tesseract!"

"I can get there faster," Tony nodded, seeing the location as he followed Banner.

"Look, all of us..." Steve began.

"No," Athena shook her head, "You all fell victim to the Tesseract's command of your emotions, Thor and I shall retrieve it."

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard," Thor agreed, "No human is a match for it."

"Yeah, well, all of us here are a bit beyond human, aren't we?" Tony grinned and turned to go.

But Steve reached out and grabbed his arm stopping him, "You're not going alone!"

Tony smacked his hand away, "You gonna stop me?"

"No," Athena cut in, "_I_ will," she glared at them both, setting down the scepter and moving around the table, "Do you not see how childish you both are being? You are grown men. You are warriors. You are wise beyond your years. Act like it. Or are you both so weak that you would submit to the Tesseract's control?"

Before either man could even answer, Banner gasped, seeing something else on the monitor, "Oh my god..."

They had all turned to him, about to ask what was wrong...when they found out, as an explosion went off outside the craft, sending them flying into the walls and doors and every which way from the force of it. Fury and Thor fell near a table, Steve and Tony blasted out of the room entirely, while Athena, Natasha, and Banner were sent through a wall and down a set of stairs to the lower equipment rooms, everyone disoriented...but one person was angry, very angry, and on the verge of turning green with rage and pain.

A/N: Sorry! This chapter was posted when I updated my OUAT story, but I left the page too soon. I really, really need to stop doing that :( But I caught it earlier! I saw a tumblr alert about it right when I woke up (I tend to fall back asleep after posting) and immediately logged on to post this :)

I'm very excited for the next few chapters ^-^ Yay!

Some notes on reviews...

Lol, oh I'm well aware what Sirens are ;) I've got about 8 years of research/reading on the myths and a college essay comparing the movie 'O Brother Where Art Thou' and their depictions of the mythological creatures with how they are actually portrayed in myth/art ;) But actually, in original Greek prose, Sirens are described just like Harpies, birds with women's heads. It wasn't till the Renaissance paintings that they started to take on Mermaid-like features, originally being described as 'creatures of the earth' instead of sea creatures (you can see some original Greek vase artwork of Sirens that are birds with human heads, especially in covers of the Odyssey translations (you can see a bird with a human head swooping down and Odysseus tied to the mast)). In some accounts, they believe Sirens were originally handmaidens of Persephone and were punished by Demeter when her daughter was captured by Hades to be bird-like so they could forever watch over the earth from the skies. The Furies were more thought to be dog faced/headed, snake haired, bat winged women that could drive men to insanity merely by the sight of them ;) If you check, many mythology sites/books describe Sirens to be birds with women's heads instead of Mermaids ;)


	6. Unleashing Monsters

Unleashing Monsters

Thor groaned as he hit the ground, rolling half across the floor from the blast that had sent him and Fury through a wall and into another room. He held up his arm, shielding himself from the debris falling around him, knowing that there was likely even more in the lab than in the room he'd fallen into. When he was sure that the majority of the rubble and metal had finished falling on him, he rolled to his side and looked over, seeing Fury on his one side, pushing away a sheet of metal that had fallen nearby that he'd grabbed to use as a shield, the man uninjured though seeming jarred and angry to have been attacked. He understood that feeling well. They had been aware there was a possibility of an attack, but they hadn't expected it to happen when it had. No one in the base had even warned them that there was something incoming. They had glimpsed, as the wall blew apart, a craft hovering outside it. The bridge, especially should have known that there was another craft hovering beside it, it was only too obvious it was there, but they had failed to warn anyone of it or even alert Fury to the fact it was there.

He pushed himself to sit up and frowned, looking around the room for Athena, but didn't see her. He turned to the other side of him, checking behind him, but she was nowhere.

"Athena!" he shouted, springing to his feet and moving back to the lab, trying to see if he could spot her, but had to grip the edge of the door frame as the wall was blown off, the force of the winds threatening to pull him out of the room, Mjolnir on the ground a few feet away where it had fallen.

"All hands engaged!" a cry came over the speakers above the doors and he didn't even need to know what the alert meant to know that it was likely that the entire base was arming up to fight the next battle.

"Hill!" Fury shouted behind him and he looked back to see Fury standing, moving towards the doorway after him.

"Number Three engine is down!" came a yelled reply, so loud that Thor could hear her over the earpiece.

For what it was worth, Fury didn't even flinch despite the fact the shout was likely stinging in his ear.

"We've been hit!" another woman reported in the distance.

"Did we get a run in? Talk to me."

"We got a fire in Engine Three."

"The line looks mostly in tact but it's impossible to get out there to make repairs while we're in the air," a second worker added.

"We lose one more engine we won't be," Hill retorted, before she seemed to focus back on Fury, giving her report, "Somebody's gotta get outside and patch that engine."

Fury grunted at that and tapped the metal in his ear once more, "Stark, you copy that?"

"I'm on it!" Tony reported.

Thor looked over in the direction he could vaguely remember Tony and Steve had been thrown to see they weren't there.

Fury just tapped his ear piece once more, "_Coulson, initiate defensive lock down in the contingent center. Then get to the armory," and hit it once more, "_Romanoff!" but there was no reply, "Romanoff!" he looked at Thor, "She's not responding."

Thor frowned, trying to recall what had happened just before the blast had gone off, trying to think of where Athena had been thrown. He had been standing there, near Natasha when Athena had set down the scepter and stepped around the table. Natasha had stepped after her and…

"Athena is with her," Thor turned to Fury, his eyes widening as he realized that wherever Natasha had fallen, Athena was likely with her. It had to be like that, the alternative was not something he wanted to consider, that she had been thrown out of the wall and into the air, that she could be falling to earth right now without any way to protect herself. No, he closed his eyes, he could remember it now, he could remember flying back towards the wall and seeing her and Natasha fly in one direction…

With Banner.

"I must find her," he turned and moved into the lab, fighting against the wind to grab Mjolnir, feeling more firmly planted with his hammer in his hand, knowing that it wouldn't let him be swept away, and spun around to enter the side room once more, having seen another door that would lead to the halls and not force him to walk through the broken open room again.

"Hold it," Fury grabbed his arm.

"Unhand me," Thor nearly growled pulling his hand away from Fury's hold, pointing his hammer at the man, "Athena is in danger and I will not have her face it alone."

"We're ALL in danger," Fury pointed out.

"But she is facing the greatest of all," Thor glared, "She and your agent were thrown away with Dr. Banner."

Fury let out a breath, "If he gets injured…"

"He WILL get angry," Thor nodded, pain could lead to fierce anger, he knew that. Often when a soldier was fighting, it wasn't till even a minor amount of blood was drawn that they felt truly angry and put their all into a fight. And for a man like Banner, that anger, that pain, was going to be his undoing and that of Athena and Natasha. Some could argue that anger was a sort of pain, that Banner had to be in extreme amounts of it to unleash the Hulk and being thrown through a wall by an explosion would be enough to harm and anger anyone.

He didn't know what state Athena was in, if she would be able to defend herself, if Natasha was injured and would need her to protect her. They were largely immortal, yes, he and Athena, but they could be injured, they could be harmed, and they could be knocked out, as had been proven numerous times in their last visit to Earth. For all he knew, Athena could be lying somewhere buried under debris and unable to move. She could have hit her head in the fall and be left to the mercy of the Hulk. Or it could be the opposite, Natasha could have fallen and been gravely injured and he knew Athena would never leave a fellow warrior behind. He had seen the respect in Athena's eyes after Natasha had slammed her and pinned her to the mat of the gym with her thighs and helped her up. She would not allow Natasha to be left to the Hulk either and if she was half focused on protecting Natasha she would be putting herself at risk for the Hulk.

No, he needed to find her, he needed to see what state she was in and help her.

Fury nodded, knowing that the strength of a 'god' would likely be the only thing they had to equal the Hulk, seeming to realize what Thor had, that there was a chance Athena was down for the count, "Go," he ordered.

Thor gave him the briefest of nods before he turned and rushed out of the room, trying to back track and see where Athena and Natasha had fallen.

~8~

Athena groaned as she hit the bottom of a metal floor in a darkened room. She winced, landing on her back, but ducking and maneuvering herself just enough to not slam her head against the floor in her fall. But that did little to protect her back. She hissed, rolling to the side when she saw metal beams and parts of the walls falling towards her, managing to press just under some sort of tank running parallel to the wall to avoid it. She waited a moment, panting, listening for any other falling items that might strike her, before she took a breath and rolled back out. The first thing she noticed was that she had a small cut on her forehead, sticking out just about an inch from her hairline, but other than that she was relatively unharmed. She gave herself a pat over quickly, seeing that her armor was intact, her weapons were still attached, and nothing else seemed broken or injured. She pushed herself to her knees, looking around for Natasha and Banner, sure that she had been thrown back with them. She had seen Thor nearer to Fury and the two men flying in another direction than where she had gone so she knew Thor was likely ok. He would be able to face whatever there was that might infiltrate the base…

It was she and Natasha that were in the most danger she knew.

Because BANNER had been thrown out with them and, if the reactions of the warriors (and Sif) were anything to go by, he would be furious right now, he would be in pain and it was staggering to think just how often those two emotions blurred, anger and pain, and if Banner was about to get very angry, she and Natasha either needed to get out of there or find some way to keep him from transforming or a way to restrain him once he did. She knew that the second option would be the best one. She doubted that the last option was even possible. With Loki in the cage, there would be no way to restrain Banner in a means where he wouldn't be able to break out. And the first option was seeming more likely. They would have to flee and try to find some place they could lure him to where he wouldn't harm others or do too much damage to what was left of the ship.

But in order to see to it that the second option was the one that happened, she needed to find them first.

She spun around, hearing a groan of pain behind her, a groan that sounded like Natasha. She pushed herself to her feet and winced, ok, so she had been nearly correct in her assessment of her injuries, her ankle was killing her, she hadn't noticed till she'd put weight on it. She limped forward, focusing on putting more and more weight on her one leg so that she could try to dull the pain, push through it, not think about it, because chances were, at some point they would have to run and she couldn't afford to slow anyone down.

"Natasha?!" she called, pushing past a few large pieces of the wall that had fallen before her.

"Over here!" Natasha shouted.

She moved the wall away and found a bank of equipment blocking her way. It appeared like it was an equipment room not what her eyes had adjusted slightly and the lights around had turned on for the emergency attack. But she had little time to consider that as she saw Natasha on the ground, lying on her stomach with her leg trapped under a large pipe, her face crunched in pain. She could see from the angle that the pipe hadn't broken her leg, but it was putting a lot of pressure on her calf and would probably leave her bruised. She was currently trying to free herself but the pipe was too heavy. If she could just get there then she could lift it off her, being stronger than a mere mortal.

But what was truly alarming was Banner lying a few feet away, free from any debris, but he was crawling away, or trying to, his body stiff, his motions jerky, his hands clenching into fists as he let out a series of agonized groans that sounded like growls. His hand reached out and grabbed a grate on the floor, his fingers clenching around it, trying to focus on something else, trying to keep control, but she could already see the green tinge taking over his skin.

"Natasha," Athena called, making the woman turn her attention to her, "Are you ok?" she asked, shoving the equipment aside.

"Yeah, yeah," Natasha swallowed and glanced back at Banner, not even noticing the crack of fear in her voice, "We're ok, right?"

Athena shook her head and rushed forward, seeing the man's body starting to tremble and shift and contort and grow, the man starting to change into what she assumed was the Hulk. She moved to the pipe, trying to find the end that she'd be able to lift.

"Doctor?" Natasha tried again, tried to keep him focused, "Bruce, you gotta fight it. This is just what Loki wants. We're gonna be okay. Listen to me."

"You two," Athena shouted, seeing two maintenance men run in, about to ask if they needed help, "Get out!" she snapped, not wanting any more people there than necessary.

"We're gonna be ok," Natasha swallowed hard, trying to talk Banner down, "Right?"

"Natasha," Athena shook her head, finally finding the end to lift, "Don't."

"I swear on my life I will get you out of this, you will walk away, and never ever…"

"Your life?" Banner hissed, his voice deep and growling, the change taking him over, his shirt tearing as he half threw himself across the room, still trying to get back as Natasha looked on in pure terror.

"Bruce?" she called, her voice shaking and breaking and just scared.

Athena grit her teeth and hefted the pipe up, freeing Natasha, dropping it once the woman had scrambled free. She reached out and grabbed the woman's arm, pulling her out of the room as she saw Banner turning green and growing in size. They made it a few feet away but Natasha kept looking back, her eyes wide and locked on Banner's form.

"Natasha!" Athena snapped, grabbing the woman's shoulders and shaking her to look at her, "Look at me," she nearly growled herself, "Pull yourself together, and run," she ordered.

Natasha looked into Athena's eyes, seeing an understanding there, seeing that Athena knew how frightened she was of the Hulk…but she wasn't saying it out loud, mercifully.

"Go!" Athena shoved her off, "I can handle him, you find the others! Find Barton and seize him," she pushed Natasha once more and spun around to block the woman's fleeing path, facing the Hulk as he shakily got to his feet at the end of the walk way, roaring in anger.

Athena took a breath, bracing herself, the Hulk already barreling towards her, before she turned and ran, there was not enough room there to properly fight the man and she couldn't risk him destroying anything that could cause a larger explosion. She ran for the stairs, rushing up and up and up, needing more room, needing a bigger space. She nearly breathed a sigh of relief as she reached the carrier room of the craft.

"GET OUT!" she barked at the men and women scrambling around inside it, "NOW!"

She winced, ducking and throwing her arms up as the Hulk burst through the walls after her, roaring and sending the humans scrambling and fleeing the room. She spun around and pulled out her sword, tightening her grip. She didn't want to kill the man, having been told that, in this form he had little control at times, that he was controlled by the Hulk and it wasn't Banner anymore. But if he forced her hand, if he attacked to kill her, she WOULD fight back.

She stepped back slowly as the Hulk approached her at a stalk instead of a run, "You may frighten others," she told him, "But you don't frighten me. I've fought far bigger brutes before I trained with Thor and after. You are nothing compared to them."

That seemed to enrage the Hulk as he let out a bellowing roar and swung at her. She jumped back, swinging her sword at him, nicking him in the wrist. She noticed that when he roared, he clenched his body, like he was focusing all his energy on the roar instead of concentrating on the next attack. She ran at him, ducking and jumping as he swung at her, as he tried to beat her down, as he tried to kick at her. She groaned as she was thrown back into one of the aircrafts in the room, before she dropped to the floor, the Hulk managing to get in a lucky swing. She pushed herself to her feet, and ran at him, throwing a shield she'd had strapped to her back at him, hitting him in the chest as he let out a roar, his arms out, his head up, staring at the ceiling as he did so…giving her the perfect opportunity. She slid down to her knees, sliding right under him as she swung around, managing to slice at his legs, near his ankles, bringing him to his knees.

She rolled up to a defensive crouch, turning to watch as the Hulk turned and glared at her. He reached out for her, moving to grab her with one hand and she swung at it with her sword, only to get grabbed by his other hand and squeezed. She let out a grunting hiss as she felt a rib or two crack when she was suddenly falling to the ground, released as the Hulk went flying back.

She looked up, seeing that Thor had flown into the room, tackling the Hulk back across it towards the docking area of the carrier room. The two rolled to the ground and pushed themselves up quickly to circle the other, both looking at each other and sizing the other up. She pushed herself up and ran to grab her sword as the Hulk smashed at Thor, throwing a wild punch, but Thor ducked and weaved his way back, avoiding it, till the Hulk brought his fist down on Thor, ready to pound him down into the ground but Thor managed to grab the Hulk's fist above him, holding it up though it drove him to his knees.

"We're not your enemies, Banner!" Thor shouted, trying to reason, "Try to think!"

"Thor!" Athena shouted as the Hulk punched Thor with his other hand, sending him flying across the room, through a craft, and landing a few feet away from where she'd been running to. She moved to his side, helping him sit up, her gaze fixed on the Hulk, "He cannot be reasoned with," she reminded him, "He entered this form in pain, he will rage till he feels calm and in his rage he will attack."

"And others will attack back," Thor nodded, "Feeding his rage…"

It was a trap, a never ending trap that would just keep happening. Because they couldn't stand there and allow the Hulk to harm anyone, but equally they couldn't calm him enough to get him to stop either.

"Then we take him down," Athena looked at him, "We knock him out, hopefully in sleep he shall calm."

"Together," Thor grabbed her hand as she helped him stand, seeing the Hulk panting, blowing huffs of deep breath out his nose, pacing before them as though waiting for an attack. They had only taken a step towards him, hadn't even lifted their weapons when he let out a roar, proving he couldn't be reasoned with at the moment, and charged at them.

Athena rushed forward first, since Thor had just recently taken a blow, it was a tactic and a pattern that they had taken to during training and sparring and battles lately. When one was injured the other would step in, once a harsh blow had been dealt the other would take over, it allowed them time to save their strength and to also study the other opponent. She managed to get the Hulk to turn his back on Thor, but was sent flying through a few stacks of containers from a kick, leaving her rolling on the ground, nearly dropping her sword but managing to hold onto it. Thor summoned Mjolnir to his hand and threw it at the Hulk's back, sending him stumbling forward and howling in pain.

The Hulk spun around and ran at Thor who swung Mjolnir around and slammed it up the moment the Hulk was close enough, sending the brute flying backwards into a plane and landing harshly on the ground. It didn't keep him down for long as the Hulk jumped to his feet and grabbed a wing off a plane and threw it at Thor, but Athena jabbed her sword into the back of the Hulk's leg at the last moment, making the aim off, giving Thor enough room to duck and avoid the wing, allowing it to hit a jeep behind him. Thor quickly threw Mjolnir again as the Hulk swung around to try and strike Athena, this time managing to hit the man in the back of the head but the Hulk turned and grabbed it before it could fly back to Thor…the hammer just falling to the floor uselessly.

The Hulk tried to lift it, but couldn't, and focused on it, struggling more and more to try and hefted but nothing happened. Not even his strength could lift the hammer, it even dug his feet into the metal floor with the force of trying to lift the hammer. Thor caught Athena's gaze and grinned at her, winking at how that had seemed to trap and draw the Hulk's attention off them for a moment.

But his grin soon sunk when an alert echoed through the room, "We've got perimeter breach! Hostiles are in SHIELD gear! Call out to every junction!"

"It's Barton and his agents," Athena turned to Thor. And now they knew they were in trouble, "Hulk was a distraction to break Loki out."

Barton would know the base, he'd have told the others about it, they were heading for Loki and they wouldn't stop till they found him. Unleashing the Hulk had only been a part of the mission and a large one. If they were willing to upset Banner in order to get the Hulk, knowing the destruction and damage and death he could cause in this form…they could only guess what the intruders had been ordered to do, what they'd be willing to do. From what Fury had described when talking about Barton's compromising, it appeared that the scepter made those it touched completely and utterly loyal to its holder. There would be nothing that those men and Barton wouldn't do to get to Loki.

Athena closed her eyes, and she had sent Natasha to confront him, knowing that Natasha herself was compromised when it came to Barton. What she'd said to Loki, it was how Natasha operated, she gave an open and honest truth, she made herself vulnerable to make others think she was revealing some sort of startling information and some sort of control over her, but she owned it. She didn't let what she revealed get to her, she never let others get so far as to use what she gave them against her. But she had revealed her concerns for Barton to Loki, all her comments from the moment she'd met the woman had at some point referenced back to Barton, he was a constant thought on her mind and she knew that no matter what, no matter what training Natasha had she would never be able to bring herself to kill Barton, much like she herself would not be able to kill Thor no matter what training she had. Barton though…under Loki's control, he would fight Natasha to the bitter end and he would do anything to get her out of the way.

The two gods looked at each other and nodded, Athena sheathing her sword and taking a running jump at the Hulk, locking her arms around his neck, trying to strangle him, just enough to lose consciousness, holding on and gripping tighter as the Hulk turned and twisted to try and get her off of him. She winced as the Hulk stumbled through a wall, her back first, and sent them crashing onto the ground of the lab, the brute falling back and slamming her to the ground and rolling over to grab her neck, pinning her down.

"We've got the Hulk, Athena, and Thor on Research Level Four!" a call came out, "Levels Two and Three are gone."

Thor rushed forward, summoning Mjolnir and using it to send himself flying at the Hulk, knocking him off of Athena as the woman gasped and sat up with a cough. He rolled over instantly and covered her body when the sound of gunfire rang out and bullets rained over them, aiming for the Hulk from outside. They looked over when it stopped, hearing a roar, to see the Hulk leap out of the base and onto a small helicopter that was hovering outside and had been firing on them. They watched as the Hulk grabbed the nose off the craft, sending it swerving and made it explode, the pilot just barely getting out, but sending the Hulk hurtling towards the earth.

"Engine One is now in shutdown!" a warning rang out and Thor grabbed Mjolnir tightly, slamming it into the floor and grabbing Athena as the craft tilted dangerously, nearly sending them falling out through the opening.

Thankfully the lean only lasted a moment and the two were up and racing out of the room, not knowing how much time they had before the lean happened again, not knowing how much time they had before Loki's cell was breached. They headed for the glass cage room, knowing that they had to get there, they had to be there to stop Loki's men coming for him, they had to be there to stop Loki escaping if he was already out.

They paused only a moment, Thor in the lead, as they reached the room to see the door to the glass cage opening as Loki stepped out. Thor immediately ran for it but Athena gasped, seeing another Loki standing at the controls and she knew which one was real, the projections he made were incorporeal, unable to operate the controls.

"Thor no!" she shouted, but it was too late.

Thor lunged at Loki before the cage as he crouched down into a defensive stance, and Thor flew right through him, into the glass cage, as the doors slid shut, Loki disappearing in a flicker.

"Stay back!" Loki, the one by the controls, ordered, holding his scepter at Athena as she tried to rush forward and help, the end glowing and crackling with energy that she knew would act like a blast and send her flying back if he used it, it was like the blasts that had been described that had helped topple the first SHIELD base when Loki appeared on Earth. Loki tilted his head at her, grinning widely and turned to Thor as the man stood, "I wonder, brother, are you ever _not_ going to fall for that?" he laughed.

Thor glared and rushed at the glass cage, slamming Mjolnir against it but only succeeding in cracking it, making it shake and shudder but remain largely whole.

"The humans think us immortal," Loki mused, "Shall we test that?" he turned to the controls, opening the base of the cage as had been done to him, but before he could release the cell and have it drop, Athena rushed forward, swinging her sword at him.

Loki moved swiftly, blocking her blow, moving to stab her but she swung her sword around, pushing it to the side and grabbing his wrist holding the scepter with her free hand, bringing the sword above her in a wide arch to point at Loki and try to stab him from above. But Loki grabbed her wrist and yanked her forward, slamming his head against her and sending her stumbling back as he went with her, grabbing her arm guard and sliding it up only an inch so he could slam her wrist against the railing behind her, forcing her to drop her sword. He knew she wouldn't be expecting that move, he wasn't usually one to use his precious head and brain and skull to unarm an opponent. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

He grinned at her, "Jealous brother?" he called to Thor for how he was pressed against Athena, but he had little time to enjoy the angered expression on Thor's face when Athena shoved off the railing and tried to shove him back against the control panel, trying to unbalance him, but he slipped his foot behind her and turned, sending her to the ground and thrusting the scepter at her, catching her in the chest as the orb within it began to glow a brilliant blue like the Tesseract.

"Athena!" Thor slammed a fist against the glass case, fearing Loki would try to take control of her as well.

But Athena only sank to her knees, screaming in pain, her body contorting in agony.

"Ironic, isn't it?" Loki mused as he watched the power flow into her, "It's not powerful enough to take us over. It can't alter our minds…but it can try. Ooh," he smiled dangerously, as though he were enjoying her pain, "And when it does…excoriating agony…isn't it Athena?"

Athena could only scream at the pain and agonizing torment ripping through her, starting with her mind as it fought against the control Loki was trying to exert on her. It made sense, a small voice in her head sounded, Loki had only been able to take over humans so far, maybe it wouldn't work on people like the three of them, not of this world. But he was telling the truth, it was excruciating!

"Let her go Loki!" Thor slammed Mjolnir on the glass, "Stop this madness!"

"No, actually I don't think I shall," he turned his head to smirk at Thor, glaring at him at the same time, "Shall we see what happens if it never stops? Shall we see just how much your precious Athena can endure? Shall we?!"

Thor could only keep his gaze locked on Athena, he could see it, the strain it was putting on her body, the tears in her eyes, the way she was shaking, he knew from experience what it was like when she pushed herself to her breaking point in battle, when she was in dangerous chance of her body shutting down and it was this…but if Loki didn't allow it…what then?

"Stop this Loki, you're going to kill her!" he cried.

"Am I?" Loki seemed unperturbed by that, "Well then, that's one less concern of mine, isn't it?" he asked, turning back to Athena, his grip on the scepter tightening as the glow grew brighter.

And Thor realized...

Loki was truly going to kill her.

A/N: Sorry this was late :( Bit of a medical emergency with my mother last night. She fell on our stairs and hurt her leg. I had to take her to the hospital to get it checked because she couldn't stand on it. She's ok, she severely bruised her leg, but I had to help her get around this morning to just get it checked out again at her work as there seemed to be internal bleeding that wasn't there last night :( She's doing ok though, she can walk a little more :)

As for this chapter...ooh, the battle is coming! I really wanted to sort of have a little tag-team going with the Hulk lol :)

Some notes on reviews...

Since we don't know what Loki's time with the Chitauri was like, it's entirely possible that, at one point, they _might_ have tortured him. Athena and Coulson don't know for sure, they can guess/believe/speculate, but they can't prove anything so it's really looking at one possible past Loki could have had. I do feel, however, that some of the canon moments from the movie, could be seen as subtle references that Loki _might_ have endured torture (just like there were moments that showed us that Natasha was terrified of the Hulk without her outright saying it, not all things are spelt out for us or crystal clear but we can interpret). For me it was that his memories of the events of Thor were warped, there's mental conflict about them, which _can_ be a sign of torture (can be, it's a possibility). The after-credit scenes of Thor with Erik Selvig and the reflection of Loki in the mirror has a large wound/burn on his head that he did not have at the end of Thor, which _could_ be seen as the start of torture if he was with the Chitauri by then (could be, it's a possibility). Appearing in from the Tesseract he didn't seem to be well but pale and potentially sleep deprived (which _is_ a type of torture). My mother is a nurse and seeing that first scene she remarked that he looked like he was suffering heat exhaustion too, one way to harm a _Frost_ Giant, I think, would be with heat :( There is the pain on Loki's face crouching down on the jeep, the fear and bowed head when the Chitauri were speaking in his vision seeming submissive of them by the end, shaking and a pained expression when he was shoved out of the vision like it was an instinctive reaction to move away from the pain he knew was coming (I have seen the _exact_ same reaction and expression from one of my friends who was in an abusive situation). It is all an interpretation of how Loki was portrayed to viewers and we all have different outlooks on it, no one person is 100% right and this is just my interpretation of a possible event, that's all fanfiction is, looking at the possibilities :) I can assure you though, that I am _not_ going to use the 'torture' of Loki as an excuse, he will not be shown leniency for his actions, he's very much in control of himself and his mind by this point. I _do_ attempt to keep bias out of my stories though, for example, I dislike Rose Tyler from Doctor Who yet I have written stories where she's a very respected/wounded soul to a jealous/clingy cow to like a sister/wonderful to a hopeful/disillusioned companion. So, if I failed here as you believe me to be a 'Loki fangirl,' then I apologize, but I like to think I've proven in the past that I do a fairly good job of keeping bias out of my writing and I can only say to have patience and see where I am going with the mention and idea of the torture before believing I'll be using it as an excuse, that's a little jumping the gun ;) As I've mentioned in past notes, I stretch things out along a story and don't throw everything into the first chapter, twists galore tend to happen in most of my stories, in which case patience is a virtue. We'll actually hear the 'torture' being brought up and shot down as an 'excuse' in a future chapter ;)

We won't physically meet anyone from Athena's family (they won't physically be there) till the 3rd story. I can't say that we'll meet her whole family, but at least two people will physically be there ;)

I probably wouldn't do a Poseidon/OC, just because he's married and has children and I can't quite see making an OC that would be able to get him to give up all of that and all his ways to be a one-woman person...because that one woman should be his wife :)


	7. The Prophecy

The Prophecy

"Loki!" Thor growled, trying to slam Mjolnir against the cage again, needing to stop him, needing to get to Athena, to help her...

When a voice called, "Move away please."

Loki pulled the scepter back, recognizing a human voice, another potential slave, and stepped away from Athena, the woman collapsing to the ground, shaking, unable to move, hardly able to even lift her own head as she twitched and convulsed in the aftershocks of the crippling pain, Thor sinking to his knees to be as even with her as he could, to keep her in his vision as Loki faced Coulson who was standing there with two weapons. While Loki eyed the two guns in Coulson's hands, Thor had his gaze fixed only on Athena, not daring to say a word to draw Loki's attention back to her and force her to endure that agony again.

"Do you like this?" Coulson spoke up, his gaze flickering to Athena for only the barest hint of a moment before he focused on Loki once more.

He knew Athena was strong, she had to be to take out the people she had in their base and to be able to hold off the Destroyer's blast when it had come to Earth last time. She had burned through the injections they'd given her at the base, and hadn't exhibited any signs of negative effects of it when it came to her movements and reactions and reflexes afterwards. And he knew that she and Thor were considered to be like gods, they had to have incredible strength and endurance to be able to handle the Hulk especially and come out largely unscathed. He knew she was strong and he knew that, looking at her now, he should NOT be considering her to be a damsel in distress in any way, shape, or form, as he knew many women who were ten times stronger than he was and more than capable, just like Athena was.

But...he couldn't help but see a fallen comrade lying there. It didn't matter if she was a woman or god or alien or whatever she was. All he saw in that moment was that someone who had been helping them, an ally, had been harmed. He saw someone that had just been brutally tortured, for lack of a better word, by some alien instrument and nearly been killed. He cast a glance at Thor as well, but saw the man couldn't even bring himself to look at his brother, and why should he? Loki had very nearly killed the woman that Thor so clearly loved, that was seven layers of bad and monstrous to do. He could only imagine the betrayal that Thor was feeling at that moment, that Loki had nearly done that, worse yet, the utter helplessness and weakness the strong man was probably experiencing that he was trapped in a cage like that and unable to help her, protect her.

But it would be ok, because HE was there, and he would die before he let Loki cause Athena any more harm than he already had. His mother had raised him right, had raised him to treat women with respect, to be kind and compassionate, to protect. He had grown up on stories of Captain America, the greatest, most pure of heart hero there was in his opinion. He'd tried to live his life with that man as an example, to be good and helpful and to keep people safe. It didn't matter if Athena was a woman (though it did make him feel twice as protective to see her so beaten down), it mattered that someone he trusted and had worked beside was lying on the floor, struggling to even breathe. And he knew that HE could do something about it. HE could stop it, stop Loki, or, at the very least, he could delay the man long enough for Athena to regain her strength and strangle Loki from behind or for Thor to break out of the cage. He just had to...create a distraction and keep it going, and he could do that, to protect a fallen ally he would do it.

"We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer," he continued, moving his attention back to Loki, making sure he held the man's gaze so that he wouldn't turn to Thor or Athena, "Even I don't know what it does. Do you wanna find out?" Coulson lifted the weapon, ready to blast the man when he realized that Athena still wasn't getting up...

Only for Loki to disappear and reappear behind him, making him gasp as he looked down to see that Loki had stabbed him through the back with the scepter's sharp blade. The end of it was sticking out through his chest for only a moment before Loki pulled it back out, leaving him to fall to the ground.

"NO!" Thor shouted, a whirlwind of emotions racing through him.

He was devastated to see Loki do that to Coulson, someone he had come to consider not just an ally but a friend in the short time he'd known him. To see his brother so carelessly and easily take the life of another man...it made his stomach churn and his heart clench in his chest. Because the Loki he used to know wouldn't do that, this...this Loki was not one he recognized and all he could think about was what had happened to him? What had happened to his little brother to turn him into this? His gaze locked on Coulson from the moment Loki appeared behind him, watching the man sink to the ground, collapsing against the wall, already able to see the blood seeping through the back of his suit, the red splotches on the white of his shirt.

And he was enraged and fearful and driven and…vulnerable. Because Loki was walking back to Athena and he was trapped in a glass cage. Oh he knew exactly what Athena had the moment they saw Loki put into it. It may have been made to hold the Hulk, but they had both proven that they could go toe-to-toe with the brute and come out largely unharmed. Their strength was at the very least equal to the Hulks but they both knew it was likely stronger. They COULD break out, just as easily as Loki could have had he not affected the systems of the base and shorted out the controls, they could break out with their minds and strength. This glass cage wouldn't hold them for long, but it would hold them for a time. It would take time, strength, and determination to be able to break out. They could do it, get out of there, but not instantly. He had slammed Mjolnir against the glass and it had only cracked, but it HAD cracked. He could beat his hammer against the glass multiple times and only THEN would he be able to shatter it. But it could be shattered.

At the moment though, he was trapped there, utterly helpless to get to Athena and save her. He could read every expression on her face, he knew every movement of her body, and it tore his heart in two to see the sheer and utter agony etched on her face as Loki used his scepter on her. He was quite sure it would be something that would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life, seeing her suffering and being powerless to stop it. And now, to see her lying there on the ground, panting and shaking and trembling, far too pale, her eyes bloodshot from the tears that she hadn't cried but that had escaped her, looking dazed and still in pain…he wanted it to stop.

"Loki!" he shouted as the man reached Athena's side, "Stop this. Your quarrel is with ME. Leave her be. Take me instead!"

Loki let out a dark chuckle at that, "Oh but my quarrel IS with her," he tsked, "She holds your heart, does she not?" he scoffed at Thor's expression, as though he were shocked Loki would know that, given that he hadn't been in Asgard when the two had made their feelings known, "A blind fool could see it Thor and I am nothing of the sort. She's held your heart for ages now…and THAT is precisely why she's the perfect weapon against you."

"Loki do not do this!" he cried as Loki lowered the scepter, the tip of the blade just an inch above Athena, the woman seeming to come back to herself and try to move more, but it was straining her.

"Hmm…" Loki hummed, before grinning, "Ooh, I know," he stepped back, Thor nearly letting out a breath of relief before Loki moved to the controls, making Thor stiffen again, "What better way to torment you, brother dear, than by the ignorance you lived your life by," he looked at the controls, contemplating them, "To have you fall, to plummet to the ground, growing farther and farther away from your love," he started to grin again, "To not know what I shall do to her, how I shall choose to kill her," he lifted the blade, eyeing it as it gleamed in the light, "Whether through torment or blade…but to know that, either way," he tilted his head at his brother, "You…will NOT be the last thing she sees…"

And with that, he hit the button on the control panel beside him, sending the glass cage falling out of the craft as Thor screamed and tried to swing at the wall of the cage, but it was too late. Loki chuckled at that, watching his brother be the helpless weak one this time, before he stepped back to Athena, who had just barely managed to get herself braced on her elbows and kicked her, sending her sprawling onto her back with a pained cry.

"Oh this shall be fun," Loki grinned down at her, waving the scepter above her, taunting her with the pain he was going to unleash.

"You're going to lose," Coulson's voice called out, needing to stop him, ready to fight to his last breath to help Athena, to give her more time.

Loki looked over, seeing the man slumped against the wall, sitting there, a trickle of blood dripping down from the corner of his mouth, the gun resting in his lap, "Am I?" he scoffed.

"It's in your nature."

"Your heroes are scattered," Loki rolled his eyes, "Your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?"

"You lack conviction."

"Is this conviction enough for you?" Loki grinned and turned, driving the scepter down, ready to kill Athena as he'd nearly done from just the torture alone. Ooh he had enjoyed the sound of her screams, enjoyed knowing that he was killing her just with pain, but now…now he wanted to finish it. HE wanted to be the last thing she saw before death took her, HIM standing above her ready to kill her with a simple blade and her knowing Thor wouldn't be there to rescue her.

It was fitting, those who lived by the blade died by the blade.

But just as the scepter's blade came within a hair of her armor…Coulson pulled the trigger on the gun in his lap, sending a brilliant blast of fire at Loki, similar to the Destroyer's, right at the god, sending him back, flying through the walls of the craft, but away from Athena.

"So that's what it does," he wheezed, though he let out a relieved breath that he'd done it, that he'd stopped the man, that he'd saved Athena's life.

The minute she told him about the vision, about how Loki was going to kill her in the room with the glass cage…he'd determined and decided for himself to stop it. She was a brave woman, the bravest, to enter something knowing she was going to die. It was different to not know, you could hope, you could hope that you'd come out alive, you'd have a chance. But this time, this time Athena KNEW she wouldn't, she knew she'd be facing Loki and that he would try to kill her, that he would succeed in killing her. But THAT was what had gotten to him, the vision that her brother had seen was of Loki killing her…as in, in the process of, and that torture had surely looked as though he were killing her.

HE had just stopped Loki before he succeeded.

Prophecies were hardly ever that clear and sensible, there was always a loophole, there was always a way out, a different interpretation. Athena had taken the words to mean Loki WOULD kill her, HE had heard that Loki would try to. He closed his eyes a moment, just…trying to breath, feeling the pain racing through his veins like fire from the wound in his stomach. But his eyes snapped open when he heard a shuffling and looked over to see Athena back on her elbows, struggling to get up, struggling to make her way over to him and all he could think was thank god Athena wasn't a villain here, because she certainly had conviction.

"Coulson…" Athena wheezed as she managed to crawl her way over to the man, slumping by his side, more leaning back on her legs tucked under her than against the wall, not wanting to take his support from him. She was trying to stay awake, conscious, give him some sort of support and comfort and help…but it was hard.

Her body felt like lead, her head was pounding, she could barely move (she still wasn't sure how she'd managed to make it to the man in the first place). She kept seeing small black spots in her vision, her ears were wringing, and her body was tingling like it had fallen asleep and was waking up, little pin pricks all over her skin. She could hardly breathe, gasping and panting as she tried to get air in her lungs, but it wasn't working. She needed sleep and rest, she knew that, she and Thor, the Warriors Three, Sif, all of them could heal faster than mere mortals, but she needed time to recuperate, and right now she was forcing herself to stay awake.

"You ok?" Coulson rolled his head to look at her, he…he just needed that, he needed to know that he hadn't been too late, that his actions hadn't been in vain, that she would be ok. If he could just know that…it was worth it.

"I shall be," she blinked rapidly, trying to make the two of him that appeared in her vision to morph into just one, "You…you shall be as well."

Coulson nearly laughed at that, a small one, but he couldn't muster it, "I don't think so," he murmured.

Athena's head snapped to the side and she immediately reached for her sword, only to recall that it had fallen to the earth, not that it would help her the sudden move had made her see triple instead of double. But she could hazily make out Fury entering and rushing over to them.

"I'm sorry boss," Coulson murmured as Fury crouched on his other side, "They got rabbited."

"Just stay awake," Fury ordered, "Eyes on me!" he glanced at Athena, silently asking her if she was ok, she gave him a short nod, one that told him that she truly wasn't but she was not in the danger that Coulson was.

"Oh I'm clockin' out here," Coulson breathed.

"Don't you dare," Athena swallowed hard, guilt filling her, she knew Coulson had only come there because she had told him of her brother's vision, he had tried (and succeeded) in preventing that future, in saving her. And now he was suffering because of it, because of her.

"Not an option," Fury agreed.

**"**It's ok, boss," Coulson smiled, "This was never gonna work…if they didn't have something…to…" he let out one final breath, his head tilting to the side as he slumped more, just as other agents entered with medical equipment.

Fury swallowed hard but stood, moving out of the way so that the team could do their job, reaching out to haul Athena to her feet, only for the woman to collapse beside him, leaving him little option but to heft her into his arms. He looked down at her and then to Coulson, realizing what had happened, why Coulson was there, the state Athena was in, the direction the gun had been positioned, Coulson had saved her life…

And he would be damned if he let the man's last act be in vain, so he turned and carried the woman out of the room to make sure she was tended to.

~8~

In the glass cage, Thor desperately tried to break through the walls, swinging Mjolnir with all his might, slamming it against the walls as he continued to fall. The cage was tumbling, spinning and flipping and he felt himself bashing into the walls with his body as much as his hammer. But he tried, he twisted and turned and slammed the walls. He finally managed to make enough of a crack that he knew, one final and powerful smash would get him through the walls. He threw himself back against the wall opposite to it, bracing himself a moment before pushing himself off it, launching himself across the cage, Mjolnir held out before him, and crashed through the wall…managing to escape just before the cell slammed to the earth and shattered, sending him flying across the field it landed in, tumbling and twisting and crashing around till he came to a roll on the ground, panting.

He closed his eyes tightly, just lying there, not even bothering to get up, because it just hurt, not his body, he'd endured worse falls in the past, but his heart. His mind was racing, thinking of all the ways that Loki could have harmed Athena, how he could have killed her. He could have driven her to death using the scepter's power, or stabbed her with it, kicked her out the bottom of the craft and she could be hurtling to the ground right now. He could have strangled her in her weakest state, he could have grabbed Coulson's weapon and blasted her, he could have done so many things and…he didn't know.

He didn't know if Athena was alive or dead and what Loki had done to her.

All he knew was that, whatever had happened…HE hadn't been there. He hadn't been with her in her last moments and Loki had, Loki's face was the last one she would have seen, Loki's actions, the pain the last thing she felt. It made his hands clench in anger to know that Loki had inflicted so much pain on her and to know that he had been so willing to kill her, just to hurt HIM. For one brief moment, he regretted allowing himself to get so close to Athena, to allow her into his heart, because now she would always be a target, she would always be someone that others could attack in order to get to him.

But that thought was quickly pushed away…because Athena was strong, she was a fighter, she would fight and defend herself. She didn't always need him at her back to be safe, she was a skilled warrior and she was clever.

He opened his eyes, feeling hope spring up in him, it was small and he refused to allow it to grow bigger than that, but he had a hope now…that Athena was alive. He didn't know how, she had been so weak and pained before, she had been at Loki's mercy, Loki had had the upper hand. But he could hope, he could hope that she had come up with some way to save herself or that Fury had entered or that other agents had arrived after he'd been sent off. He just…he needed that, he needed to hope she would be alright, because if he didn't have that…

What would be the point in fighting?

He winced at that, no, no, he knew he had to fight, he had to keep fighting. He and Athena had come there to get the Tesseract, to take Loki back, but he knew that they both had silently agreed that, if a battle was to come about, they WOULD fight, they would fight and they would battle Loki and they would help the humans. Because a true king, a good king, defended the people, and it didn't matter which people. How could he have the respect of his people if he allowed others to suffer when he could help? That was something Athena had taught him, protecting Asgard was a priority, but he could help others as well. And he would. He'd fight for her, if something had happened to her, if she was truly gone, he would still fight, he'd fight on in her memory.

He had to hope she was alive though because he didn't want to imagine his life without her. He would never say it out loud, but, in his mind, he truly pictured his future, him on the throne of Asgard but with HER standing beside him as Frigga did Odin. He saw it so clearly, wanted it so badly, that to imagine that ripped away…he knew what it would mean. Eventually he would need an heir, he would be forced to marry someone else, to rule with some stranger, to have a child, but…in his mind and heart all he wanted was that with Athena. He knew it was so far in the future, that they weren't at that point yet, but he just…to now have it potentially ripped away from him? It was almost unbearable.

So yes, he had to hope that Athena was alive, because if she wasn't…Loki would not be returning to Asgard, because Thor would have killed him.

~8~

Athena was sitting at the conference table of the Bridge, a small cup of tea before her, her hands wrapped around it, taking comfort from the heat of the container. Her head was still pounding and she refused the medicine that Fury and his staff had offered her, not knowing how it would react to someone like her, someone not mortal. Her body still felt stiff, but it was nowhere near as pained as it had been before, she'd truly only needed some rest, a reprieve from the pain to be able to recover quickly. She had woken only an hour ago, on a white bed in the medical wing of the craft. At first she'd been wary, had immediately looked to her arms to ensure she hadn't been restrained again before she noticed that Fury was sitting in the room with her, reassuring her that they had learned their lesson from tying her up last time she was there, that she wasn't a prisoner or captive or test subject this time but a wounded ally.

She hadn't wanted to stay there, in that room that reminded her so much of the SHIELD base she'd been held in the last time she'd been on Earth and Fury had merely stood and opened the door, allow her to leave. She had surprised him with how quickly she'd been able to get up and walk out, how steady she was. He had seen the footage of what Loki had done to her, had watched her reactions and had thought she would be down for the count, unable to help them in whatever was coming next now that Loki had escaped. THAT had upset her, that Loki was free again. The only consolation she could see was that Barton had been returned, Natasha with him at that moment to make sure that the control Loki had over him was going to end and be severed. But that was the only consolation. Fury had given her a rundown of what had happened.

The craft had been partially destroyed and needed extreme repairs but they were safe and stable for now. Thor had fallen to Earth in the glass cage, Fury feared he had died, but she refused to believe it, reminding Fury that the man was immortal (though she knew they could both be killed, it was the only way to make Fury believe that Thor had a chance of survival). He was too well trained a warrior and too damn stubborn to die from a simple fall to Earth. The Hulk had fallen as well, crashed with the jet that attacked him, but Fury seemed certain that HE was alive, it seemed that it was almost impossible to kill the Hulk. Coulson, though…THAT was what they were discussing at that moment. After she had passed out, Fury had taken her from the room to allow her time to recover, and in that time…Coulson had passed.

And there she was, sitting on the Bridge, with Tony and Steve sitting before her, the two men having survived the attack as well. Fury was standing before them, Hill to the side with a few cuts and bruises of her own, all of them solemn and quiet.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket," Fury began, tossing a small pack of cards…with Steve on them, before the man, "Guess he never did get you to sign them," he added snidely, flipping one over so they could see the blood on it, "We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Think I had that coming," he moved his way around the table, ignoring Athena where she sat to focus on Tony and Steve.

She understood why he was ignoring her, she had been one of the few not to start arguing but to try and stop it. She had been one wise enough to see what the scepter was trying to do, how it was trying to influence them, and moved to make them realize the same. She had found respect for all those there after they proved themselves assets instead of sizing the others up as a threat, like Tony and Steve seemed to have done. She had been the one that Coulson had died to protect and for that, Fury had given her his respect. Because Coulson was a good man and anyone he determined was worth dying for had his undying respect. He wasn't blaming her for what happened, she had been at Loki's mercy, and Coulson had stepped in to save her while Thor had been trapped. He knew that, from the start, hers and Thor's offer of being allies would be upheld, that THEY would do anything they could to help them stop Loki, to work with them and work together, a warrior always kept their oath to others. It was Tony and Steve that Fury seemed upset about, that they were the two arguing most.

"Yes," Fury continued, "We were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number, though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative," he moved between the two men, to the empty chair between them and looked at both of them, "The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes," he looked over as Tony stood and walked out of the room, and turned his gaze to Steve, "Well, it's an old fashioned notion."

Athena watched as, moments later, Steve got up and followed Tony out, "Well played," she remarked, looking at Fury.

He looked at her, not denying it at all, not asking her what she meant, he knew she had worked out his words and why he said it. He was manipulating them even then, he knew that the guilt Tony felt and the sense of honor and respect Steve had inside him, would drive the two men to make amends and to form a respect and alliance with each other. He needed EVERY member of the team working together to see this through. Natasha and Barton were SHIELD agents, they would do whatever commanded, Athena and Thor were allies, Banner had been more of an expert, someone they had never intended to unleash or have fight for the sake of keeping the Hulk at bay, but Tony and Steve were essentially free agents, and THEY were the ones that would need more nudging to put aside their differences.

Athena reached out and picked up the card with the blood, looking at it closely, examining the shine of it, the scent, and her gaze flickered to Fury who only gave her a meaningful and pointed look, his lips pursing. She gave him a subtle nod in return and placed the card down, understanding the significance of the blood and what Fury did NOT want the men to know.

Now all she could hope for, was that Fury's lie would pay off.

A/N: I'm so sorry there was no chapter yesterday, real life got in the way and I literally had no time to even get on the internet till about 10am today :( I hope this chapter makes up for it though, Athena's alive! Woo! :) We don't really know what her brother saw in the vision, just that he saw Loki 'killing' her and, for all he knew, Loki bringing the scepter down on Athena just before Coulson fired could be where his vision ended, perhaps he jumped awake, not wanting to see that, and assumed it would mean Loki finished the job ;) Prophecies and foresight can be very tricky ;)

Some notes on reviews...

It might be because I've seen abuse in real life and that, when I saw Loki act a certain way, I saw the same reactions and made a connection to possible abuse. I understand your concerns very well, but you'll have to forgive me, because I can't openly comment on/explain/answer them at this point of the story without spoiling what's coming. All I can say for the moment is, 1. the potential Loki-torture won't be an excuse in the story, 2. there IS a reason why I had Athena think this might be torture related (and that point is written in her POV), and 3. knowing where this story is going and how it will end and the twists that are coming, I think you may find quite a few of your points aren't as expected ;) My opinion, as a person, may be that he was tortured, but what I do with it, as a writer in this story, we'll have to wait a short while to see what the endgame of it will be, it may surprise you ;)

Oh Phil was definitely to the rescue :)

Lol, thanks :) I understand their concerns though, but as I've already done a Loki/OC, and this is Thor/OC, they might assume I'm a 100% Loki fangirl, as they said. However, they may find themselves surprised by where I take the theory. Anyone who has read my other stories might guess, where the reader thinks a story is going almost never ever goes that way ;) We'll have to wait and see what happens though :)

I probably won't do a Hannibal story, only because I disliked the films and I just couldn't really get into the show :( I watched a few episodes but it just didn't suck me in. So I probably won't have one for Hannibal. Sorry! :)


	8. Danger on the Horizon

Danger on the Horizon

Athena stood by the large window of the craft, staring out at the clouds, at the sun that had risen on a new day, deep in thought. She couldn't say just what she was thinking of specifically, so many thoughts drifted through her mind that it was hard to pinpoint just one that was consuming her. There was so much going on, so much wrong, and so much that made sense now…none of it was good.

She let out a breath and rubbed her head, the pounding in it was starting to lessen and her body felt less tense, but she knew that the battle for New York, the battle her brother had foreseen…that was something that would likely not be altered. Something on that scale, that affected so many people? It would happen no matter what. She should have realized that she wasn't truly going to die, as her brother claimed. The dream he'd told her about was vague now, slipping from her memory as dreams did but she felt like he had mentioned she was IN the battle or that the fact that he'd even seen the battle could mean that she had been in it. If his visions revolved around his concern for her and what she would experience in her future, she should have made the connection that she would survive her encounter with Loki in the glass chamber's room. She had thought it herself, when she heard, that her brother's visions were often disjointed and out of order. He seemed to think that she'd experience the battle and THAT would be the reason why Loki was locked in the glass cage, that he'd been taken as a prisoner from that moment, but it was the reverse, the glass cage had been before the battle.

She should have realized that, perhaps then Coulson would not have been harmed and Thor would not have been trapped. She had…hesitated, for a brief moment when she and Thor entered the glass cage's room. She had taken one look at it and her mind had gone to the thought that 'this is where I die' before she'd even noticed Loki standing at the controls. It had been enough though enough of a hesitation for Thor to get trapped in that cage without her, to be cast from the craft alone and left falling to earth while she suffered at Loki's hands.

She closed her eyes a moment, that was another revelation that had been forced upon her. That scepter Loki had, the way he spoke of it and what it could do…she felt a sorrow rise in her, but not for Loki, no. She couldn't muster a single shred of empathy for Loki after enduring what she had, she felt the sorrow for Thor. Loki had been going on and on to Fury about how the Tesseract would reveal the lies and shine truth everywhere, and she knew that the small orb set into Loki's scepter was like a subset of the Tesseract. While it hadn't infected her like it had Barton, she could see the irony in the truth she had been forced to realize from experiencing that sort of pain.

So no, she felt nothing for Loki but everything for Thor, for when he realized that truth as well…his heart would be broken.

She looked to the side, a faint beam of sunlight catching the glass, creating a small array of rainbow colors in the glass from the angle she was standing at. It brought her mind back to the most central of concerns in her mind. Odin's order had been to grab the Tesseract and Loki and return to Asgard. He'd implied, even if there was a battle, their sole focus should be on the Tesseract and Loki, that they should abandon the people and return at once. She couldn't do that. She knew she'd be disobeying an order from the king, but…these people were going to suffer, had already suffered, at Loki's hands and she could not allow it to continue, for them to clean up Loki's mess while they dealt with the cause of it. It was not fair to anyone and…if she were being honest, she had noticed a change in Odin since his last Odinsleep.

The betrayal of Loki, everything he'd done, had changed the man. It was like he was harsher to all, even Frigga at times though that was few and far between. He was especially hard on Thor, treating him more like the next king to be taught than his son seeking lessons on how to rule wisely from his father. He acted distant from Thor and she could guess why. Thor had disappointed him, he'd been forced to banish him, and Loki had betrayed them and fallen to the abyss, only to return with the intent to destroy and rule the humans. Both sons, at one point, had let him down, but Loki's especially had hit him hard. If one of his sons (though he had ceased to call or speak of Loki with that term again) could betray him so deeply…would the other son? Would someone else? One of his guards? His people? His wife? It was making the man paranoid and harsh, making his rule more like that of an iron fist and starting to worry many people. It was as if Odin expected betrayal now, and that it would hurt less if Thor betrayed him in the future if he stopped looking at the man as his son.

She let out a longer breath at that, Thor would never say it out loud but she knew it upset him, the distance that had formed between his father and him. She had always had a close relationship with her father, being the first born child, the only child from his first union, she had a special place in his heart and she knew some of her siblings didn't have that, didn't share that closeness with him and would sooner chain him up and let their mother take charge than him at times. They were all trying to heal, trying to obtain that closeness that Odin and Thor shared, but it was a long time to come yet. She could tell that if she ever lost that closeness, it would devastate her, she could only imagine how bad it was for Thor.

The only good thing that had come from it…was that Thor was less concerned when he did something he knew would disappoint Odin, especially if it was something he knew in his heart was the right thing to do. They were both going to take part in this battle, they were both going to fight to protect the people from Loki, that much was certain. And if Odin was irritated or irate about their choice, they would bear the consequences together. This, helping these people, was the right thing to do and they would see it through in its entirety before returning to Asgard. One did not abandon their allies.

"So what are you going to do?" a voice spoke beside her.

She looked over to see Fury step next to her, his hands behind his back as he looked out the window with her, "Stay. Fight."

He glanced at her, "So I suppose I don't have to use any unsavory tactics to get you to help us then?" his lip quirked in a smile.

"If you mean to use Coulson's plight as inspiration," she remarked, thinking of how he'd spoken to Tony and Steve, "You will find it unaffecting. Even if Coulson had not been harmed in protecting me, I would still fight by the side of the mortals you have gathered. We are allies, as Thor said last time we were here, we do not turn our backs on our allies."

"Good to know," Fury nodded, turning to look back out the window.

"However…" she continued, looking out the window as well, "As Coulson _was_ harmed in trying to protect me…that makes it infinitely more personal. If there is anything I can do to help more, you need merely ask. I shall not resort to a spar with you to prove your ability to protect any Asgardian secrets."

"Then we need your intel," Fury agreed, "Where is Loki going to open the portal."

"New York," she answered, "We had our own resources specify that."

"But where in New York?"

"That…I cannot be certain of," she admitted, "I am not of this world, nor were the ones who gave us our…intel?" she asked and he nodded, "What we see as buildings are generic, but to you they might be defining and I know not any specifying details about them."

Fury let out a frustrated breath at that, "Think you can help Stark and the Captain work out where Loki might open her up?" he inquired, "You know what Loki is like better than us, maybe something you know can help them pinpoint where he'll go."

Athena nodded and turned, leaving the room. She could guess where the two men had gone. After Fury had guilted them as he had, there was really only one place for someone suffering that emotion to head…the room that had held the glass cage, the room Coulson had been wounded in. She honestly wasn't sure what she was expecting to find when she entered, but she wasn't exactly surprised to near the door and hear Tony and Steve shouting at each other and arguing. She could understand why both men clashed so much, Tony was more of an individual fighter, a lone wolf, while Steve was a leader and one who liked to take command of his troops. Tony wouldn't follow anyone and Steve saw Tony's personality as insubordination. She was rather proud of Thor (though not surprised) that he hadn't tried to exert his authority as much as Steve and Tony had. Thor had been raised to understand that the input of others, especially other leaders and rulers, was necessary and should be listened to and considered. It didn't always work around his peers, such as the Jotunheim debacle where they all told him not to do it but he'd gone anyway, but in situations like this where there were clear leaders and threats to deal with, he was very sensible in listening to their concerns. And as this was Midgard and not Asgard, it was not his jurisdiction to be the leader here. He may claim that authority when it came to dealing with Loki afterwards, but the lead up and the plan to obtain him, that would be up to the others.

"…not soldiers!" Tony was shouting, the two men standing before the dent in the wall that Coulson had made when he'd fallen against it and used the gun on Loki, "I'm not marching to Fury's fife."

"Neither am I," Steve countered, "He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does!"

Athena looked at Steve for that, impressed that he had seen it. Perhaps he wasn't as mindless and loyal as she thought he was at first. He had struck her as almost thinking himself above others for his morality and strength and how he lived his life, like he was the perfect man and was the epitome of 'good.' But she could see it that he did question authority, he didn't just take orders, but he realized that Fury and some of his actions had caused some of the events, that how he had reacted to Loki and how he organized all of this could be seen as giving him equal responsibility as Loki had for the fallout.

"But right now we gotta put that behind us and get this done," Steve continued, "Now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list of where he could set it off…"

"New York," Athena called, making the men turn around, "Our sources on Asgard said it would be New York, but I know not exactly where."

Steve nodded, "That narrows it down, right?" he glanced at Tony.

"Yeah," he agreed, "There's only a handful of places he could set the Tesseract off from."

"Perhaps there is only one," Athena suggested, "Loki knows us," she began, thinking out loud, "He never does anything without thinking it out first, he enjoys using his mind over his strength. He used his knowledge of the Hulk against Dr. Banner, against all of you by taking his cage from him. He will choose a location that would impact one of you as well…"

"He'll make it personal," Tony murmured, his mind racing as he narrowed down the list.

"That's not the point," Steve shook his head.

"It is," Athena disagreed, "He wants to strip you of your sense of security, do something to turn you on each other."

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great but he knows he has to take us out to win, right?" Tony realized, "_That's_ what he wants. He wants to beat us."

"He wants others to see you being beaten," Athena nodded slowly, "He wants everyone to see."

"Right," Steve started to agree as well, "I caught his act in Stuttgart!"

"Yeah," Tony pointed at him, "That's just previews, this is…this is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tail diva."

"Diva?" Athena blinked, not understanding that term.

But Tony waved her off, "He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered..." he stopped suddenly, knowing exactly where Loki was going to unleash the Tesseract, the highest point in New York that had a scientific base…and a name on the side of it, "Son of-a-bitch."

He was heading for Stark Tower.

~8~

Thor made his way through the field he'd crashed into, searching for Mjolnir. He had fallen into an exhausted sleep for a short while, unable to muster the strength to get up and move but just…needing rest, just for a short while, just a bit to recuperate. Now though, now he felt recharged, he felt stronger and he needed to move. His sleep had not been pleasant, had not been easy or deep but fraught with nightmares, seeing Loki laughing as he stabbed Athena and he couldn't bear to be on Earth another moment without finding out if his nightmares were real, or merely just his fears come to life. He held onto that hope that she was alive, that she had survived, with everything he had as he pushed through the tall grasses of the field.

He paused when he stepped on something that he knew was not wood or stone and looked down to see Athena's sword lying on the ground. He stepped off it and crouched down, gently picking up the sword. All he could see as he looked at it was Loki slamming Athena back, bashing her wrist on hard metal till she dropped it, leaving her weaponless. He knew that the sword was important to her, it was one of her brother's. He wasn't sure which brother, she had many it appeared, but she had stolen that one. Her one brother, the one she sparred with often, it was his weapon of choice and when she'd left her home to come train with him and the other warriors, she had nicked it from him. She had been certain that her brother would be cross with her and she'd never hear the end of it the next time she went home, but it had been worth it. It reminded him of her playful side, that she was a sister to someone, that she had a family she grew with and teased and played with and sparred with.

He stood, sliding the sword into his belt, intent to return it to her, knowing how important that sword was to her. It was a finely crafted sword too, slightly different than the swords he saw in the training yards, but well made. And he knew she would want it back. He winced, forcing himself NOT to think of it in terms of another reason she'd need it. In Asgard, warriors were sent adrift on the waters with their weapons and set aflame in honor. If…if something had happened to Athena…she would need this sword with her to be honored and protected in Valhalla…not that, not that she was dead. No, she was alive, she was alive and she would want her sword back to fight with.

He looked over, seeing a small crater, and moved towards it, spotting Mjolnir resting within it. He took a breath and held his hand over it…hesitating just a moment, fearing he may not be worthy to wield it again. He had stood there, with the hammer, and been unable to protect the woman he loved from being tortured. He had been trapped in a glass cage and struggled to break out. He had failed to protect those he'd sworn to protect, he had seen dear friends and allies being attacked and been unable to defend them.

Was he worthy of Mjolnir if he failed all that?

He took a breath and swallowed hard, reminding himself that he WAS. He had tried, he hadn't given up, he'd fought hard and he'd protected others. He had TRIED. And that was what made him worthy, he had tried and he hadn't given up, he had continued to fight and he would fight on now. He would fight to the bitter end to protect the earth and the people on it. He looked down, feeling the strength rising in him, and held out his hand, Mjolnir flying up into it. He grinned at that, relief filling him, before he thrust it up at the sky, summoning a bolt of lightning, his armor slowly forming over him, readying him for battle before he leapt up and flew into the air.

~8~

Athena squinted as the wind whipped past her face, her one hand clasped in Tony's as he flew them through the air of New York City, now in his red and gold armor once more. There was a jet above them, containing Barton, Natasha, and Steve, all prepared for battle and ready to stop Loki. She had originally been expected to go in the plane with the others, however when she'd learned that Tony planned to confront Loki she had insisted that SHE go with him, reminding them not just that she had experience flying like that with Thor but that Loki was of Asgard and it was part of HER mission to see him stopped. So the others had commandeered a jet from SHIELD and taken off with her and Tony, now Iron Man, flying after them, heading for New York City.

Iron Man went ahead of the jet, flying with Athena towards his home, a large tower that said 'Stark' on the side of it, and they could see, before they even got close enough, that there was something set up on one side of it, a large metal device, and an older, familiar man working on it.

"Erik!" Athena called down, seeing Erik Selvig pottering around it, ready to activate it, a faint wall of energy building around it, "Stop this!"

"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig!" Iron Man commanded.

Erik turned to look up at them and Athena could see that his eyes were unnaturally blue and held an eerie glow to them, similar to the glow the Tesseract was giving off. She shook her head slightly, realizing Erik was still under Loki's control. According to Natasha, it would take a severe blow to the head for him to be 'reconfigured' or whatever that meant, and to overcome Loki's control. It was, she supposed, similar to how those who were shocked about something could be snapped out of it with a slap or something similar, or how when one was having a dream they would pinch themselves. It took something more for them to be distracted enough to allow their own mind to come back to them.

"It's too late!" Erik shouted up to them, a smile on his face, sounding pleased and proud of what he was doing, "She can't stop now. She wants to show us something! A new universe."

Athena let out a breath, "Do it," she told Iron Man quietly, knowing he'd hear her.

"Ok," he nodded, holding out a hand that wasn't grasping her and fired a blast at the wall of energy, trying to break through it, but it deflected, sending the blast racing outwards in all directions, knocking Erik back to the ground and Iron Man flying back, nearly dropping Athena but managing to hold on at the last moment, "Yeah, I got that," he muttered under his breath to a voice Athena had been warned was in his armor.

"There," Athena pointed, drawing his attention down to the tower, to a small platform like a helicopter landing zone, where Loki was standing.

"I'm beat," Iron Man remarked offhandedly, starting to lower himself and Athena towards the tower, "Then skip the spinning rims, we're on the clock," he spoke to the voice as they landed. Athena stumbled slightly from the motion as Tony just walked forward, his armor coming off piece by piece as he moved, Athena moving beside him once that was finished, entering the home portion of the tower.

Tony moved to a bar of the room, completely at east, not even looking at Loki, knowing Athena was taking care of that, keeping her eye on the threat and, to be honest, he was glad she was looking at Loki like that and not him. Her gray eyes were narrowed in what seemed like betrayal, anger, and disappointment, along with a hint of sorrow, but also disgust. He would NOT have wanted to be on the receiving end of that look.

"Ooh look who survived," Loki remarked as he slowly made his way into the room, smirking at Athena, "How's your head dear?"

Athena was silent, glowering at him, her hands clenching into fists at her side. She wanted so badly to retort, to punch him…but she couldn't. Right now they needed to distract him. The team had not listened to her remarks that they should go in and fight, fight instantly and hard. Natasha and Barton had been on her side, but Tony and Steve hadn't. Tony was of the belief that to fight Loki instantly would only lead to more destruction and, he claimed, he had just had the wallpaper done of his home and he didn't want Pepper to be annoyed when she came back to see holes in the wall…really though they knew it was his way of saying he didn't want New York to be destroyed by a preemptive strike against Loki. Steve was more of the believe that they should offer Loki the chance to surrender first, even if they knew that it wouldn't work, that Loki wouldn't ever surrender. But as she was not a member of SHIELD nor had she been intentionally asked to be a part of their small team, her and Thor literally falling out of the sky and into the middle of it all, her opinion as not taken and, as Steve was the self appointed leader, it was his decision that they were forced to go through.

And right now…she knew that it would only be a matter of time before Thor found them, and she rather believed he would like the first attack to be his.

Loki eyed her a moment before smirking, taking her silence to be fear of what he could do to her, lifting the scepter to wave it at her threateningly, but he turned his gaze to Tony instead, "Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity."

"Uh no," Tony shrugged, "Blondie over there," he pointed at Athena, holding a glass in his hand, "Told us you're not human, not even Asgardian. Some hypothermic goliath," he shrugged again, not caring, "I'm planning to threaten you."

"You should have left your armor on for that," Loki sounded amused.

"Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage. You've got the uh blue stick of destiny," he eyed the scepter, his gaze flickering to Athena, not sure how she'd handle seeing the thing that had harmed her so terribly…but she was as stoic and focused as ever. He would have whistled at that, but it was true, she was a real warrior, trained in battle and pain, she wouldn't let something like a little stick get to her…and if she was anything like he'd heard Thor was, she'd be more inclined to punch Loki in the face and snap the stick over her knee than be frightened of it or him, angry yeah, but not scared, "Would you like a drink?"

Loki shook his head, "Stalling me won't change anything."

"No, no, no, _threatening_," Tony reminded him, "No drink? You sure? I'm having one."

Loki frowned at that, starting to think this was some sort of trick, "The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"Me," Athena nearly growled out.

"Hardly," Loki smirked at her, "You were at my mercy only hours ago Thena," he smiled as he saw her jaw clench at the small nickname that no one ever called her, she preferred her whole name, "I can have you on your knees begging for death this time."

"Hardly," she mimicked, "You have no idea what is coming for you Loki."

"The Avengers," Tony cut in, seeing Athena about to take a step towards the man, to attack, but they needed a little more time. If they couldn't convince Loki to stop his plans…then they did need to stall him, just long enough for Thor and Banner to get there to help, to complete the team. Even though the gods and the Hulk hadn't been invited to be 'the Avengers' originally, they were there and they were helping and that was good enough for him to include them in it all, "It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type of thing."

"Yes, I've met them," Loki scoffed.

"Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But, let's do a head count here. Your brother, the Demi-God," Tony began as Loki turned away with a roll of his eyes, "Blondie here, another demi-god. A super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend, a man with breath-taking anger management issues, a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them. Especially your brother and his beau when you tortured her to the brink of death."

"Beau?" Athena frowned at him, not having heard that word but Tony waved her off, his expression assuring her it was not a bad thing to be called, not an insult.

"That was the plan," Loki smirked, turning around.

Tony stepped away from the bar, a glass of alcohol in his hand, "Not a great plan," he made his way towards Loki, holding up a hand to stop Athena from joining him, a part of him not wanting her anywhere near that scepter if he could help it, knowing Loki wouldn't hesitate to try and torture her again, worse than before, "When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army," Loki replied.

"We have a Hulk."

"Oh, I thought the beast had wandered off," Loki said offhandedly.

"Yeah, you're missing the point. There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Cause if we can't protect the earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."

Loki merely stepped closer to Tony, pointing the scepter at him, "How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you?" he quickly paced the tip of the scepter on Tony's chest…but it just made a clinking noise and did nothing else, "This usually works…"

"Well, performance issues," Tony shrugged, "You know?"

Athena rushed forward when Loki grabbed Tony by the throat, "You will all fall before me!" he shouted, throwing Tony out of the window of the tower, sending him falling to the ground only a moment before a fist went flying across his face, sending him stumbling back.

Loki quickly lifted the scepter to block Athena's next attack, the two of them locked in a small duel when a noise sounded out the window, pulling their attention over to see Iron Man floating before them, "And there's one other person you pissed off!" Iron Man shouted, "His name is Phil!"

Athena jumped back as Iron Man sent a blast at Loki, knocking him back at the same time that a blast of blue energy shot into the sky. Athena and Iron Man looked at each other for only a moment, realizing what had happened.

The Tesseract had activated.

The Chitarui were coming.

The battle had begun.

A/N: I can't believe this'll be over in just 2 days! O.O

Some notes on reviews...

I can say there was a tiny, tiny hint about where I'm going with the torture in this chapter, but we'll really see a bigger hint tomorrow :) I like to think that, since no one, save perhaps Joss, knows what really went on between movies, that the possibilities are endless :) Torture is possible, as is Loki seeking the Chitauri out, or being led to them, or becoming a ruler to them, and so many others :) Firefly, though, my favorite of Joss's works, was largely inferring what happened to River off screen with only her reactions and a hint of medical knowledge here and there, until Serenity explained more of it, which was a very significant character moment for River that happened off screen and we didn't really know what it was or why it happened :'( I cried for River. I think Joss likes for us to interpret what we think something is, like what was in the needle that Inara had when the Reavers were first seen? Poison? A numbing solution? Something to knock her out? I don't think we know even now lol. In general though, for the movie/canon, I like to think in theories, we can't prove a theory happened as there's evidenge against it, but equally we can't prove solidly that it didn't as there might be evidence for it, until Joss or Tom confims or denies it :)

I've noticed that there doesn't seem to be any Natasha/OCs, yup, but I'm not sure if I'd do one, just because I do like the idea of her and Barton :) I really want to know what happened in Budapest lol :)

I'm not sure if I'd do a Mad Hatter/OC, just because he was there so briefly that I didn't really feel like I got a true sense of who he is and what would be a good match for him. But ther's always a chance for the future.


	9. The Battle of New York

The Battle of New York

Athena shook her head from the shock of seeing the Chitauri army starting to pour through the rift and turned to Iron Man, "Go!" she shouted at him, waving him off towards it. Iron Man gave only a brief nod before he turned and sped off towards the army, blasting at them with his hands, trying to help fight them while Athena turned to Loki, trying to ignore the sounds of screaming coming from outside and the explosions ringing behind her. She knew, from her observations of the 'Avengers' as Iron Man had called them, that there were only three people who would be able to match Loki and stop him, her, Thor, and the Hulk. And right now...she was the only one there.

"Stop this Loki," she warned him, her body tensing defensively as Loki's grip on the scepter tightened, his Asgardian armor starting to form around him, preparing him for the battle, "There is still time..."

"Oh no," Loki chuckled darkly, "Time is already up. This has too long been coming, I would not see it end so soon."

"Then you leave me no choice," she shook her head and ran at him, using the suddenness of the lunge to grab the scepter in both hands, trying to unbalance Loki to get it away from him. Whatever it was, whatever use it was to Loki, it was something and it gave him power and it was a weapon that had to be removed from the wrong hands before he could use it to attack the others or the mortals any more than he already had.

But Loki kept a firm hold of the scepter and she struggled to pry it out of his hands, trying to use her body weight to push and twist him this way and that to loosen his hold but he wouldn't relent. Loki grit his teeth and twisted sharply to the side before straining the scepter up as far as it could go, elbowing Athena in the face and bringing the scepter swinging down across it, sending her flying across the small platform outside the penthouse, onto her back. He grinned, swinging the scepter in his hand, taking only a single step towards her, fully intent to use the power of the scepter to finish her off like he'd been unable to before...

When Thor landed before her, in between them, cracking the stone beneath his feet from the impact, "Loki," Thor's eyes narrowed as he heard Athena pushing herself up behind him, "Turn off the Tesseract or I'll destroy it!"

"You can't," Loki taunted, "There is no stopping it. There is only the war!"

"So be it," Thor replied grimly, unintentionally mimicking what Athena had said only moments ago before Loki leapt at him, the scepter raised, forcing Thor to bring Mjolnir up to defend himself.

Thor glanced behind him, seeing Athena struggling more than she should have been to rise and knew that she had been hurt by Loki more than she had let on. He knew that the others wouldn't see the weariness in her eyes, the tensing of her body as a sure sign of the strain that just being there was putting on her, but he could tell, he could always tell when she was hurting and hiding it. For all her wisdom she was truly terrible at knowing when to stop. She would fight till all the bones in her body were broken, till she'd lost so much blood that she passed out. She wouldn't quit, she wouldn't let others dictate if she should fight and she would hide how badly she was hurt so that no one would prevent her from fighting. Even if it meant she might endanger others, she seemed to have a determination to prove herself to him and the other warriors that he didn't quite understand. He knew that, in her family, it was really only her one brother that were warriors, he had always assumed that it was her trying to prove herself a good warrior because she hadn't had the training that they had for as long as they had. But...he was starting to think there was something else there.

He shook his head, knowing Athena would berate him for not focusing on this battle, and turned back to Loki, using as much force as he could to push the man farther away, putting distance between him and Athena, he could already see a bruise forming on her face from the force of Loki's swing at her. He ducked, shoving Loki's scepter to the side as a blast nearly shot out of it at his head, but it only took out one of the letters on the STARK that was attached to the building, sending it falling to the ground.

Athena glanced at Thor for one moment, making sure he was handling Loki. She knew he was, that he could, but she also knew from experience how hard it was to fight against your sibling, even if they were actively trying to kill you, it was always hard to be the 'not-murderous' one and to not want to kill them but not want them to kill you and not want to hurt them but not want them to hurt you. It could truly get in your head and make it difficult to focus and land the blows you knew you needed to make in order to survive. She swallowed hard, seeing Thor doing as well as could be, before she rushed to the side of the building and looked down. She knew that the streets were littered with people, with mortals who had been walking around and staring at the sky and were screaming and running now. She just wanted to make sure that the letter falling hadn't harmed anyone.

What she saw was almost worse.

The mortals were running for their lives, their screams bloodcurdling, with Chitauri attacking them with blasts from their weapons, sending cars and other debris from buildings flying at them. There were men in blue and black uniforms that she vaguely recalled Jane calling 'cops' when they were on Earth last time, and knew they were like the guards of Asgard, meant to protect and defend. She could see Iron Man in the distance, trying to lead a group of Chitauri on flying metal crafts away from the crowd, using the buildings and turns to get some to crash. She looked over, hearing a noise of firing to see the jet that the others had come in blasting at the army on the ground and sky, careful to avoid the humans who were, luckily, starting to run for cover.

She spun around when she heard glass shatter behind her to see that Thor had smashed Loki's head through the glass catwalk of the tower, the two men still locked in battle. She saw Loki glance over and, for a moment, thought he was looking at her…until she realized that his gaze was too high. It was locked on the jet behind her. She turned and ran for him, seeing him grin darkly, and move to shove Thor aside, throwing him to the floor. He turned, lifting the scepter to blast the jet when Athena grabbed it as well, struggling and just barely managing to lift the scepter up, a blast striking one of the rotor blades instead of the body of the jet. She turned and sent a hard punch right at Loki's face, wanting to get him back for the strike against her own face, when Thor shoved himself up and tackled Loki to the ground as the man stumbled back.

"Athena!" Thor shouted back at her.

She nodded, rushing to the edge of the tower and looking down as the jet had started to sink to the ground, the crew inside struggling to control the craft. She let out a breath as the craft crashed into the street, seeing the back doorway opening and allowing the crew out, all of them still alive.

"Athena!" Thor yelled again, blocking a punch from Loki.

"They're fine," she turned back to him…only for her gaze to be pulled to the rift in the sky, where a fairly large creature, heavily armored, was slipping out of the portal, weapons fixed to it, clearly the warship of the fleet, even more warriors spilling out of it, all of them attacking the men and women on the ground. She saw Iron Man fly at it, firing at it as it roared, and turned back to Thor, "But they need help! The Chitauri are going to slaughter them!"

Thor grit his teeth at that, and grabbed Loki's arms, bracing him, dragging him to the edge of the tower to force him to look down at the people below, at the slaughter that the army was enacting, "Look at this!" he growled at his brother, "Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule?"

Athena bit her lip, madness. She closed her eyes, it was hardly madness, it was hardly what either of them thought it was. It went deeper than that, it went beyond that. And they were both fools to think it was anything less than what it was.

"It's too late," Loki grinned at Thor, actually enjoying the sight of the battle below, the sounds of the screaming and explosions, "It's too late to stop it."

"No," Thor shook his head, trying to plead with Loki in a way that Athena knew wouldn't work, because Thor was looking at Loki like he was still the brother that he had grown up with, instead of the enemy that he was, "We can, _together_."

Loki paused at that and Athena could see the hope in Thor's eyes that Loki would reconsider. But she knew it was a hope that would only break his heart later. And she knew it was a hope that Loki would continue to exploit, because Thor…he couldn't see what she did, what she'd been forced to realize and recognize when they'd finally confronted Loki on the base. She knew that Loki wouldn't give up or give in, he wasn't Thor. Thor was trying to use what he knew of his brother to get through to him, Loki was using what he knew of his brother to get to him. Loki was a mischief maker, he was a trickster, and he was a manipulator. HE would use every little thing he could to hurt Thor more, to come out victorious in this. He didn't care about Thor any longer, she knew that now, he didn't care about anything but himself.

So when Loki slipped a knife into his hand and stabbed Thor, she wasn't surprised by the action, though she saw in Thor's eyes that HE was. She was expecting yet another betrayal from Loki, so no, she wasn't surprised…but she was very angry that Thor had been harmed.

Loki pushed Thor away as the man sank to his knees in pain from his wound, the knife slipping out of Thor's gut, red with his blood, "Sentiment," Loki sneered at him, at Thor's weakness.

Though he had only a moment to savor the sight of his former-brother on his knees before he was shoved back suddenly, right into the wall of the tower by Athena who gripped him by the neck of his armor, half-lifting him up in the way only an immortal could do, glaring at him with her teeth bared, "If sentiment is a weakness, expect no more from us," she nearly spat, "You think I don't know the truth Loki?! I KNOW. I know what you have become, what you always were. And that is nothing more than a twisted monster!"

"I am a king!" Loki sneered at her.

"You are _evil_," she shook her head, "I hoped Loki, I truly had hoped that the Chitauri had turned you into this, that whatever torture you endured at their hands had warped your mind, but I see now...it never touched you, did it? You did it to me," her grip on the front of his leather armor tightened, "You tried to use it on me, we are both cut of the same cloth, and we are both too clever to believe their lies and too strong to succumb to it. You forget I've tortured the prisoners in Asgard in my training. I _know_ that pain you inflicted on me is _not_ the pain of a corruption, that is a pain of someone desiring to extract information. How much did you give them?!" she demanded, "How much did they torment you before they realized you would gladly have talked before that? That you would betray all those who believed in you and cared for you without a moment's thought!?"

She knew it now and it broke her heart. The pain that Loki had used on her, how else would he know that the scepter wouldn't affect them unless HE had endured the same pains? And she knew the difference between the types of pain used in different tortures. One pain was meant to be as physically crippling and draining as the one Loki had used on her was. That sort was meant to go in long bouts, with breaks in between for questions to be posed. It was meant to be a punishment for not answering when asked. It was NOT the sort of torture that was used to corrupt someone or to try to twist their mind and loyalties and soul. THAT torture was meant to be painful, yes, but not so overwhelming that the person in question couldn't hear what was being whispered in their ear. The torture Loki had used...it was of one wanting to torment to death or acquire information. It was not enough to lead to THIS.

"This was your plan from the start, wasn't it?" she demanded, slamming him against the wall harder, "THIS was what you wanted! Death and destruction?! To rule from a throne of bones and ash?!"

"I am meant to rule!" Loki spat at her, "Odin always said we were both meant to be kings!"

"King of what?!" she glared, "There will be nothing left if you have your way. King of the Wasteland!" she sneered, before tightening her grip and throwing him away from her, Loki rolling across the tower…and right off it.

Thor and Athena ran over to the edge, only to see him drop onto a Chitauri craft as it flew past, taking Loki with it. They glanced at each other a moment, before Thor held out his hand to her. She took it, thinking he would use Mjolnir to get them down to the ground where they could see the smallest figures of Natasha, Captain America, and Barton on the ground…

But Thor pulled her to him, hugging her tightly. Even though there was a battle raging around him, he just…he needed this one moment. Everything was a mess, there was so much going on both around them and in his head and heart (especially due to Loki), that he just needed one brief second to reassure himself she was alive. He had hoped that she would live, had known in his soul she was still alive but just…seeing her, seeing Loki taking her down and about to attack her and seeing her protecting him like he had her…he just needed this single embrace. When the battle was over, he would be sure to show her how much he needed her with him, how worried he had been, how happy he was that she was alive…he would do so much more than this. He pulled away, looking at her, unable to stop himself from touching the bruise on her cheek, already starting to fade.

She reached up and gently grabbed his wrist, "We need to help them," she told him, but he could see in her eyes that she had needed that embrace, this touch, as much as he did.

"Then you shall need this," he pulled her sword from the back of his belt and held it up to her.

Athena blinked at it a moment, before taking the hilt of it and using it and her fist to punch his arm, "You couldn't have given it to me while I was fighting Loki!?" she huffed, mock-angry.

He just grinned, they both knew that he loved seeing her use brute force and strength instead of relying on weapons. He reached out quickly and wrapped an arm around her waist, jumping off the tower with her, using Mjolnir to get them to the ground.

Athena dropped into a roll as Thor and she landed, swinging out her sword to cut down the legs of one of the Chitauri warriors that had started to swarm around Natasha and Barton, the two of them and the Captain trying to fend them off with arrows and guns and shields, but now they had swords and…

She ducked down as Thor summoned lightning to Mjolnir and sent it racing through the Chitauri, striking them down. She could see Natasha breathe a sigh of relief and rub at her back, clearly she'd been injured in the skirmish while they had been dealing with Loki above, a small reprieve would do her well. It would do them all well to be able to take a moment, assess the situation, and come up with a plan of attack instead of standing in one place and hoping that they could get the Chitauri's numbers down.

"What's the story upstairs?" the Captain turned to Thor and Athena.

"Loki escaped us," Athena stated, "Iron Man attempted to blast the Tesseract's controls but it merely reflected the attack back to him."

"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable," Thor agreed.

"We don't have the means to concentrate an attack on it," she added, "We could focus all our power but if we do that then the city is left undefended and vulnerable."

"They're right," they heard Tony's voice sound over the ear pieces that the Captain, Natasha, and Barton were wearing, "We gotta deal with these guys first."

"How do we do this?" Natasha turned to the Captain.

"As a team," he stated, straightening.

Athena blinked, "That's all well and good but I do believe she was asking for an actual battle plan," she stated, not quite sure what part of them being 'The Avengers' and already a team he was missing. She truly thought it was obvious that they were going to be doing this as a team, but even teams needed leaders and roles to see to. She nearly rubbed her head at that, fearing that she and Thor would have to give the man lessons when this was over on how to effectively operate a team.

He may have the skills and knowledge of battle to lead humans against human, but the Chitauri and Loki were nothing of the sort, they would take a different tactic to beat.

"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor stated, clearly stating that he should be the one to confront the man and that he was likely the only one who could match him in strength and skill.

"As to I," Athena stated, stepping up, "I should go."

"Athena," Thor shook his head at her, "He is MY brother."

"And that is exactly why," Athena told him meaningfully, knowing he would understand, the bond between family, no matter how strained and tense and broken it was…was difficult to ignore on the defensive side. Those attacking were clearly doing so with their notions of family cast off, in whatever means they needed to be able to do that, but the ones being attacked had no such advantage, they would only see that they were fighting their sibling instead of the enemy.

SHE held no such ties to Loki, she would not be influenced by any familial relation to him.

"Get in line," Barton muttered, tending to his arrows.

"Save it," the Captain cut in, "Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need," he determined, glancing at Thor and Athena as they nodded, agreeing that Loki would want to take them out. As he'd made how he fought them personal, he had made the battle personal as well, they had all become personal enemies that he wanted to see wiped out first and foremost, "Without him these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he's gonna need us to…" he trailed off when the sound of some sort of engine reached them.

They turned, looking over to see Banner riding up to them on a small motorbike. He quickly got off as he approached them and walked over, looking around the damage that the Chitauri had already caused, "So…this all seems horrible."

"I've seen worse," Natasha shrugged.

"As have I," Athena nodded.

Banner winced at that, thinking they were talking about how he'd torn apart the craft they'd been on when he turned into the Hulk, "Sorry."

Athena blinked, "I was being serious," she stated, "My family's caused more damage in a tiff."

"Any chance THEY could come to earth?" Barton asked, if they could cause that much damage, maybe they could help.

"The realms have been sealed off," Thor shook his head, "Travel between them is difficult."

"Anything you can do?" Natasha looked at Banner.

"Stark," the Captain called, tapping his ear piece, "We got him."

"Banner?" was Iron Man's reply.

"Just like you said."

"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."

The small group turned at the sound of an explosion to see Iron Man flying around a corner of a building…leading one of the large, Leviathan sized creature towards them.

Natasha's mouth dropped open at that, "I don't see how that's a party."

Athena and Thor glanced at each other, a small grin on their faces, THEY could, they rather loved taking out creatures that were larger than them in battle, it was exhilarating.

The Captain turned to Banner as he slowly walked past them, towards the creature, "Dr. Banner, now might be a really good time for you to get angry."

"That's my secret, Cap," Banner smiled back at them, strained though it was, "I'm always angry."

Athena's smile fell at that, she could tell it was more than anger, it was pain. It took so much out of him to be angry enough where the Hulk wouldn't just burst out at every slight against him, but restrained enough where the Hulk wasn't all that was left of him. It was a struggle, a balance, and a painful one at that. To live in a constant state of limbo like that…she couldn't imagine it. All she could do was stand there and watch as Banner began to grimace in pain as he expanded and transformed into the green man, his clothes tearing yet his shorts remaining intact, before he turned and lunged at the creature as Iron Man brought it low to the ground, punching it and smashing it into the ground.

"Hold on!" Iron Man shouted above them, lifting his hand to blast a missile at the creature, making it explode. Barton ducked while Thor and Athena stood and took it, not as affected as the mortals, while the Captain shielded Natasha from it. He moved to hover above them, making sure they were all ok and not harmed by the blast as they gathered in a circle to face the Chitauri threat from all sides, preparing their weapons as even more Leviathans and Chitauri made their way through the portal.

"Guys?" Natasha called.

"Call it, Captain," Iron Man shouted.

Captain America nodded and turned to his team, "Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, we're gonna use containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash."

Barton nodded and turned to Iron Man, "Wanna give me a lift?"

"Right," Iron Man swooped down, "Better clench up, Legolas," he instructed before grabbing Barton and flying up with him, dropping him on top of a building and taking off to do containment as ordered.

"Thor!" the Captain turned to him, "You gotta try and bottleneck that portal, slow 'em down. You got the lightning, light the bastards up," Thor glanced at Athena, both of them hearing the unspoken order, that she was to remain on the ground and she understood, she only had her sword while he had Mjolnir. He gave her a nod before swinging the hammer around and taking off with it as the Captain turned to Natasha and Athena, "The three of us, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. And Hulk!" he turned to the green man, "Smash!"

The Hulk grinned and leapt off, taking out all the Chitauri warriors in his path, Thor summoning lightning from a rather large pointed building and sending it at the rift in the sky. And that was the last thing Athena was able to focus on before the battle truly took over and she turned to the Chitauri warriors around her, attaching them.

She fought as hard as she could, she and Natasha and the Captain battling it out with their shield and guns and sword, taking out warrior after warrior. Natasha was thrown into a car, Athena throwing her sword at one of the Chitauri as it tried to attack her while she was winded, rushing towards it and grabbing the sword out of its back to continue to fight the Chitauri before her, giving Natasha enough time to get up and use her own techniques on the other warriors that were surrounding them. She spun around, hearing a blast, to see Natasha with one of the Chitauri weapons, using it against them when the Captain made his way over to them, fighting along the way.

"Captain, none of this is gonna mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal," Natasha told him.

"Our biggest guns couldn't touch it!" the Captain countered.

"We need at least ONE person working on it," Athena determined, "We can spare one."

"Who? You?"

"No," Athena grit her teeth, punching out a Chitauri with her own shield that was usually affixed to her back, "If I go near it, Loki will attack me…it has to be someone he doesn't view as a threat."

"Send me," Natasha offered, "I can handle myself and Loki thinks I'm just a mewling quim," she nearly spat that last word out.

"Would you believe, in Asgard, they call him silver tongued?" Athena tried to lighten Natasha's mood at being insulted in such a foul way.

"You wanna get up there, you're gonna need a ride," the Captain said.

Natasha glanced around, spotting a Chitauri craft approaching and smirked, "I got a ride. I could use a boost though."

"You sure about this?" the Captain asked, seeing her plan when her gaze flickered to his shield.

"Yeah, it's gonna be fun!" she nodded, running at him, the man using the shield to half throw her into the sky where she latched onto the underside of the craft and flew off.

"If SHIELD can part with her," Athena called to him, slashing at one of the Chitauri, "I would very much like to bring her to Asgard one day. Sif would LOVE to spar with her," perhaps there could finally be a third Valkyrie.

That was the last comment she could make as she and the Captain found themselves back to back, fending off the Chitauri as they went. She still believed the man saw himself as too much the leader, the one who had to be in charge, and the one who was morally better than all the others there, that he was some sort of man untouched by corruption, but she could admit that he did care about his team a little more than she originally thought, he made sure that all their talents were put to work in the right way and that they were ok with certain plans and would be alright in the end. She could trust him, in this battle at least, to have her back.

She glanced over for only a moment when she saw lightning a short distance away and knew Thor was nearby, likely helping the Hulk who had rushed off in that direction. She looked up two minutes later when she spotted a flash of red and saw Thor upon it, the man dropping down next to her and the Captain to help them fight the Chitauri that had surrounded them, the three of them fighting as hard as they could. The Captain was struck in the ribs a second later, Thor hurling a car at a handful of them and using Mjolnir as she slashed and stabbed and slammed her sword around to every warrior in sight.

She fought her way over to the Captain, reaching out a hand to help him up, "Are you well enough to continue?" she asked, knowing a blow to the ribs could be more harmful than it appeared.

"Yeah," he winced though, "I'm only 95," he grinned, "Not old enough to get tired that easy," but then he frowned, touching his earpiece and Athena frowned, not sure what was being said, it must have gotten damaged during the battle, but at least Steve appeared able to hear, "Do it!" he ordered suddenly, starting to shake his head as he must have heard someone argue, "Stark, these things are still coming!"

"What is it?" Athena frowned.

But the Captain's face grew stony, "Stark, you know that's a one way trip."

Athena didn't have to ask another question, ask what they were discussing, for just as she opened her mouth to do so…Iron man flew past them with a large missile in his arms, leading it up and up and up…

Flying it right into the portal just as it began to close…

A/N: I want to apologize that there was no chapter the last two days :( My dad is just...urg. He decided to wake up my siblings and I at 5am on Sunday because the middle of summer is apparently the best time to gather and stack wood for the winter :( We use a wood-burning stove in the winter to save on heating and our wood shed was empty so he wanted to fill it. It took us almost 10 hours of piling and stacking to fill it and afterwards I just was so exhausted and couldn't move :( And yesterday my whole body just hurt and I pretty much laid in bed trying not to move too much because of the pain -sigh- I managed to move a little more this morning and I just really wanted to at least get a chapter up :) I'm going to be trying to get back to my normal posting times though, since all I can really do is sit up right now, I'm going to try and use today to get ahead on editing :)

I hope you liked this chapter :) I'm so sad the story's over tomorrow! But we'll get the third story for the Dark World tomorrow too! :)

Some notes on reviews...

Yup, I'll be writing The Dark World and then adding more to the series whenever a new movie featuring Thor comes out :)

I haven't thought of doing a Tony/OC story, mostly because I haven't seen Iron Man in completion yet and, from what I've seen, I sort of think I like Pepper :)


	10. Brothers No More

A/N: Minor spoiler for Agents of SHIELD and a certain agent's fate in this chapter ;)

~8~

Brothers No More

"Where did that come from?" Athena shook her head, turning to the Captain, not sure where the weapon that Iron Man had appeared from. It was only too obvious to them all that it was not a Chitauri weapon or else the man wouldn't be trying to get it away from them. It appeared more like it was something that had been sent AT them to eradicate the Chitauri, even if it meant taking THEM out too, than anything. It appeared more like Iron Man had intercepted it and was trying to direct it towards the largest source of the Chitauri, the rift, than to let it strike the heart of New York where there were still massive amounts of civilians hiding in the buildings around them.

One look at Captain America, at his tense and rigid position, his hands clenched into fists, and the betrayed expression on his face, and the answer was clear, SHIELD had launched the weapon at them.

But they had little time to actually comprehend that or think much on it when screams erupted around them and the Chitauri warriors and their Leviathans began to roar in pain before they collapsed, the Leviathans falling from the sky all around them. The three of them looked around, for only a moment, at the Chitauri bodies that were now littering the streets, and back up to the portal, waiting for Iron Man to get out. The portal was still open, closing slowly, not as quickly as it opened and they could guess it was Natasha's doing that it wasn't immediately closing, the fact that it had started to close just after Captain America gave the order had to mean that she had managed to find a way to turn the Tesseract's controls off.

The Captain kept his eyes on the portal, waiting as long as he felt he could but when Iron Man didn't appear…he had to fear the worst, that the missile had gone off (why else would the Chitauri suddenly fall with no sign of injury and all at once if Stark hadn't taken something enormous out on the other side of the portal) and taken Iron Man with it. He swallowed hard and tapped his earpiece, "Close it."

They watched the portal intently as it began to close faster, not longer being held back or kept open, hoping for a miracle, and nearly leapt with cheer when the faint figure, a blur of red and gold fell out of the portal only a second before it closed completely.

"Son of a gun!" the Captain cried, a wide grin on his face.

But Athena's own smile faded, "He's not moving," she looked to the Captain.

"He's not slowing down either," Thor agreed, about to lift Mjolnir and fly to the portal to catch him when the Hulk dove past them, leaping up buildings and lunging off one to grab Iron Man right out of the air, nearly crashing into another building but using it to slide down to the ground, making his way back towards them in the process. The Hulk landed heavily before them, half throwing Iron Man off him and to the ground as the three of them ran over.

Thor pulled the face plate off of Iron Man to access to Tony while Athena moved her sword under his nose, "He's not breathing," she told them, not seeing the blade fog up from his breaths.

The Captain moved closer, putting a hand over Iron Man's chest to feel for a heartbeat…and then noticed the glowing circle in the middle of his chest had ceased glowing. He looked at them all, solemn…before wincing when the Hulk let out a roar and beat at his chest, the noise seeming to shock Tony awake as he gasped and opened his eyes, looking around.

"What the hell?" Tony panted, "What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me. Well, you," he winked at Athena, "You could if you want."

She gave him an amused look, able to see the jest in his eyes, "I believe your Pepper would be quite displeased with that," she remarked, her gaze flickering to Thor as the man glared at Tony for that suggestion, "And there is only one man I kiss," she smiled at Thor, making him grin semi-smugly at that.

The Captain rolled his eyes at them and looked at Tony, "We won."

"Alright," he grinned, "Hey. Alright. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. You ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it."

But Thor shook his head, "We're not finished yet."

"And then shawarma after?" Tony asked hopefully.

"We must feast in celebration of our victory," Athena agreed, reaching out a hand and standing, pulling Tony up with her, "But first, Loki must be detained."

"Way ahead of you," came Natasha's voice from the inside of Tony's helmet, all of them able to hear now that his face plate was gone.

"Why don't you guys head up to Stark's suite," Barton's voice added, "And keep us from killing sleeping beauty here?"

Athena frowned and looked at them, "Who is Sleeping Beauty?"

The men, save Thor and the Hulk, just laughed and turned to get to the tower, Iron Man carrying the Captain while Thor grabbed Athena and followed with Mjolnir. It was easier to get to the tower now that they were not being shot at, all of them following Iron Man as he landed on a small platform outside his tower, following him into the room where they could see Natasha holding the scepter, the orb set within it not glowing, and Barton crouched on the ground, his bow and arrow ready, eyes trained on Loki where he laid in a small crater on the floor…having been…smashed…there.

Everyone looked at the Hulk for that and he just gave a grin, silently telling them that it HAD been him who had done that and knocked Loki not only down but out for the count for the rest of the battle.

They stiffened when they heard a small groan from Loki and moved over to him, watching as he winced, his eyes closed, and rolled on his side, his back to them. He sat up, flinching and wincing as he crawled his way out of his crater and paused, hearing them. He slowly turned his head to see them all gathered behind him, Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Natasha, Barton, Thor and Athena, all with their weapons ready should he attack.

"If it's all the same to you," Loki began, trying to give Iron Man a charming grin, "I'll have that drink now."

Athena shook her head and strode forward, swinging her fist at him, her sword hilt firmly in its grasp, knocking Loki out once more.

"I thought I said get in line," Barton grumbled, lowering his bow and giving her a mock-glare, HE wanted to do that.

~8~

Athena sat on the edge of a bed in a secure portion of the aircraft that the Avengers had gathered back in to recuperate and tend to their wounds before they would all depart and go their own ways. She looked at the man lying on the bed, sitting up with his back against the headboard, a soft smile on his face.

"It worked then?" he asked, almost like he hardly dared to believe it but also as if he knew it would work.

"Aye," she nodded, "You have made more of an influence on them all than you think," she smiled, "You are a good man and good men often possess the ability to spark the same in others."

He laughed, and then winced at the action, "Never thought they'd care so much about little old me," he joked.

"They weren't just ready to avenge the Earth you know," she commented, "They wished to avenge you as well."

"Imagine if they knew the truth," he mused.

"Sometimes…a fall is required to force others to rise," she uttered sagely, "Fury was correct in that assumption."

"I still can't believe all it took was ketchup," the man shook his head.

"I was…quite surprised the others did not notice the inconsistency of the blood," she nodded, "Nor the smell of tomatoes that clung to the cards."

"People see what they want to see," he murmured, "And when other people make them think one thing, they don't notice the truth. Belief is…a powerful tool."

"I am aware," she murmured sadly, it had been hers and Thor's own beliefs in Loki that had been blinding them to many truths that they had been forced to recognize during the battle, truths they were only just beginning to process now that the battle was over and they had time to think on it. She shook her head from her thoughts and looked at him, "What shall you do now?"

He shrugged carefully, avoiding tugging at his wounds, "I'm sure SHIELD has some assignment or another for me," he smiled, "This won't be the last you see of me."

She reached forward and put her hand on his, "I am glad of that," she told him, "Though I am sorry you were harmed, both in protecting me and to truly get the Avengers to assemble properly."

"It was worth it," he told her, turning his hand to squeeze her own, "I'm not the sorta person who will stand by when anyone, man, woman, child, anyone, is being hurt. I did what I could and I'm glad it was enough."

"It was more than enough," she whispered, "You saved my life."

He grinned, "And you saved the earth."

"I helped," she corrected.

"Good enough," he countered, looking towards the door when they heard a small call come over the speakers, that the shuttles would be deployed to earth in a few moments and to gather in the carrier bay, "Thank you for visiting me," he added, "I don't think I'll be getting much of that since I'm supposed to be, you know, dead," he joked.

"You are very welcome," she told him, "But…if Director Fury asks…I wasn't here."

He let out a deep laugh at that, ignoring the tugging at his wound as he realized she'd snuck in there, she'd come looking for him, likely one of the few who knew he was still alive and wanted to see how he was, tell him personally about the battle, "My lips are sealed," he nodded, smiling wider as he watched her stand and move to go, "See ya round," he winked, still just a little out of sorts from the pain medication.

She laughed lightly at that, nodding her head as she headed out, giving him one last word before she disappeared out the door, "Live well, Agent Coulson."

~8~

Thor was waiting for her in the park, Central Park, according to SHIELD, where a few agents and the other Avengers had assembled to see her and Thor off with both Loki and the Tesseract. He was off to the side, just...looking at a small lake, Loki off to the side and being detained between two very large men, his wrists and ankles shackled, a muzzle of sorts over the bottom half of his face, just under his nose, not about to make any sudden moves or attack what with the Hulk/Banner standing there with Tony. She could tell instantly from how Thor was standing, his back too straight, but his hands on the ledge of the small wall of a little area near the lake, bracing himself against it. It was a stance she was well acquainted with, where he was angry and coiled to attack but was also trying to restrain himself and remain still till the anger abated. She and their last trip to Earth had finally gotten him to the point where he decided to wait and think before reacting and attacking when he was angry even if it meant physically restraining himself to give himself time to settle.

She glanced at the others, able to see that Natasha seemed to have come to the same understanding about Thor's emotions as she had and was holding back. She gave Natasha a nod of thanks that she had kept her distance and kept back from Thor, allowing HER to handle this. Natasha nodded back, shooting a glance at Barton and Athena understood as well. SHE would be one of the few that could get through to Barton like he could her, she understood that it was the same for her and Thor and, instead of risking upsetting or offending him in his customs and beliefs or relationship with Loki, she was staying silent till someone who truly did understand Thor could speak to him first.

She moved over to his side, just standing there for a few moments, silent, not touching him, not speaking, not even looking at him. Knowing that he had to be the one to open up first or show some sign that he wanted her there and wanted her to talk. Ever since Odin had begun to put more pressure on him to step up as a king of Asgard he had...withdrawn slightly from her. It was like he kept his thoughts to himself so as not to burden her with them. But she was well aware that Odin desired her to be, at the very least, an advisor to Thor and that meant needing to hear his thoughts and tell him her own.

She smiled slightly when he merely turned his right hand over, resting his palm up so that she could reach out and place her left hand in it, letting him take it and hold it. She stepped closer to him for that action as well, the two silent for even longer before Thor let out a long breath and she knew he was about to start speaking.

"You said he was tortured by the Chitauri," he began.

She nodded, "I did."

She knew that, even if he had seen the signs of it, knowing his brother better than she did, he wouldn't want to admit that it had happened. To Thor, at that time, he was still seeing Loki as his little brother, one he was meant to protect, and one he had failed to do so for. At that moment, he didn't want to feel like he had let his brother down by letting him suffer something as terrible as that. Even if he noticed the pains that Loki was in, he said nothing, because if he didn't say it out loud then it wasn't real.

"I thought it was madness," he admitted.

Athena was silent at that, offering only the smallest of nods to that, understanding what he meant in his statement. They had both been wrong in their assumptions, both had their hopes crushed by the harsh realities of the Battle and all that Loki had revealed during it. She glanced at him and squeezed his hand, "I am so sorry Thor," she whispered, "For all of this. For all that you had to learn about your...about Loki," she corrected quickly, not about to say 'your brother' because right now...she knew Loki was nothing of the sort.

"I wanted it to be madness," he swallowed hard.

"I wanted it to be torture," she sighed, and because of that, because of them, because of the revelations of the battle...it just crushed them both.

"It was neither," Thor determined.

And it was true.

It wasn't madness.

Thor had said it so often when he spoke to Loki, telling him it was madness to attack Jotunheim, that it was madness to attack New York, implying Loki was mad over and over and over as though if he said it often enough it would be true. Insanity was...a tricky but weighted defense, one could not claim control of their actions when the were mad. But Loki had disproved it, he had been reasonable and eloquent and well thought out. He had thought ahead and anticipated and thought about things logically. A mad man would likely not have been able to hurt them as much as Loki had by targeting things that were as important to them as Coulson and the craft and Hulk and Barton and Stark Tower had been. No, Loki was in full control of his facilities and his mind.

She had been right in saying that she and Loki were too clever, Loki was too clever to be mad.

But it wasn't the torture either.

She had been telling the truth, the torment that Loki had inflicted on her would NOT have been enough to warp Loki's mind no. She had hoped it was that, that someone was manipulating him, had seen signs where, she realized, none existed. She had taken his claims that Thor had thrown him into the abyss and all his remarks about how bitter he was against Thor growing up to be that his memories of the event had been tampered with. But all it was...was truly Loki just being bitter. Loki was the petulant sort that he would interpret Thor not reaching out and saving him as being equal to Thor throwing him into the abyss himself. And she knew that growing up Loki had always been jealous of Thor, and what was jealousy but a shadow one lived under cast from another? She had felt it from her own siblings and towards her own siblings, she was aware of how your own mind could turn events that went one way into another when jealousy clouded your vision of it.

They had both wanted, so badly, for it to be madness or torture that had shaped Loki into who he was, into the monster that had set out to destroy New York and enslave the world. They wanted something that would tell them that it wasn't really Loki, that it was something affecting him, controlling him, manipulating him, just...something that would make it all ok. Not that it would EVER be ok what he had done, but something that would tell them that Loki wasn't responsible, that he wasn't truly capable of the evil and darkness and apathy that it would take to commit something like this. They wanted something to tell them that it hadn't really been LOKI, the Loki that Thor grew up with and that Athena played games with, the Loki that was the son of Odin and Frigga if not by blood than by everything that mattered.

It was a coward's way out, they knew, to ignore the truth that was screaming at them, but that was what hope could do to you. It could make you blind until the harshest of realities was forced in front of you. When he had heard Athena's remarks about torture, for one brief moment, he had hoped that it was true, as terrible as it was, because then it was another hope that Loki, that the real Loki, was just buried under all of it. And then, to find out that the torture hadn't affected him in that sense at all...his hope was just torn away and he felt utterly foolish that he had allowed it in the first place. He just...

They just wanted Loki back...

But he would never come back would he?

They hadn't wanted to admit that Loki was lost, that all that was left of the Prince of Asgard was the Jotun within, the monster inside him. It would break Frigga's heart to know that Loki had done all this of his own free will. It would crush Thor's hope that his brother could be saved, kill his hopes of redemption that he hadn't failed his baby brother so badly that he'd turned into this. It would strike Odin with an utter betrayal and make the king's paranoid fear seem more like a reality. It would destroy Thor's family to see just how deep into the darkness in his soul that Loki had fallen. So they had hoped, they had searched, they had theorized reasons and ways that it_ wasn't_ Loki, that it wasn't really him.

And they had been so wrong.

And it was a devastating realization for Thor especially, to have that hope, that small hope, torn away from him. It was the only thing he had left to cling to, the only thing that he had left that said his brother could be saved...and it had been crushed with the realization that Loki wasn't mad or tortured to submission. It had been his last hope and it was gone now, just like Loki was. Now...now he was being forced to deal with the harsh reality of the situation and just what his brother had become and, perhaps, what he had always been.

"My brother is dead," Thor spoke quietly, so softly that Athena nearly missed him, likely would have if she hadn't been standing right beside him.

Athena closed her eyes at that, hearing the utter despair and heartbreak and anger and self-loathing in Thor's voice. This was why she had actually hoped Loki had been tortured, because then it would mean they could get Loki back and Thor would have his brother. Now he was being forced to realize that Loki was never coming back, he had lost his brother a long time ago, and that there was only a stranger left. A stranger that had darkness in his soul and ice in his heart and evil in his entire being.

Loki had WANTED to do this. He had chosen to help the Chitauri, he had chosen to attack the Earth, he hadn't cared at all what it would mean for the human lives if anyone fought back against him. He wanted to rule them, he wanted his own kingdom now that others had been denied him, and he was going to do whatever it took to get it. He had murdered and made slaves of humans, had killed and attacked and destroyed and terrorized, he manipulated and tortured, and he had done so without a shred of remorse. Even standing there, she had seen it, the glaring hatred in his eyes instead of any sort of guilt.

Only monsters felt no guilt.

"I know," she offered. She couldn't say she was sorry, she knew that Thor wouldn't want pity or sympathy or anything, he wouldn't want her to apologize for something that wasn't her fault, so all she could do was offer her silent support and stand with him as he dealt with this, "Betrayal never comes from your enemies Thor," she remarked wisely, "Betrayal creates enemies."

She looked down, seeing Thor's free hand curl into a fist, saw his jaw tighten and clench, and knew that he had realized that as well. Loki was no longer his brother, not if he was willing to do all this, not if he was willing to murder and torture and commit so many other atrocities that would break their mother's heart. Their mother cared for them all their lives, loved them, and he knew Loki was closer to Frigga than anyone else...he HAD to know that this would hurt her so, to see what he had become, what he had let himself become by not staying in Asgard and not fighting the blackness in his soul...and he had let it happen anyway. He had become a monster and that was all he could let Loki be to him in the future. He had already made too many mistakes when it came to Loki, had been too lenient or, as Loki had snapped, allowed the sentiment of being brothers affect him and delay his attacks and lessen the power behind them. No more.

From now on, Loki was an enemy of Asgard, of all the Realms, and nothing more.

"Come," Thor squeezed her hand, "We must return to Asgard. Our mission is at an end."

Athena nodded, understanding that he likely needed to be somewhere else now. New York would always be a reminder of how he lost his brother and Asgard…Asgard still had his friends and family and more support than he could find here. So she turned, walking with him towards where the others had gathered in the center of a nearby footbridge, the Avengers all there, including Erik Selvig.

Erik pulled a glass cylinder out of a truck, one that he had made with his knowledge of the Tesseract as Tony brought a briefcase with the cube over to him, Banner using tongs to pick it up and put it into the cylinder for them. Erik stood and turned, moving over to Thor and Athena and handing them the cylinder. The two guards brought Loki over to them as well, each of them putting manacles on each of Loki's wrists and onto Thor's left and Athena's right, to keep him from running when they stepped back. Athena and Thor each held the Tesseract's cylinder in their free hand and looked around at the others, offering them smiles and nods, Loki glaring in anger at them all.

Athena and Thor looked at each other for a moment, nodding and twisting the end of the cylinder, lighting up the Tesseract's power and feeling themselves sucked into the sky with Loki, using the Tesseract to tap into the transportation magic that Odin had used to send them to Earth in the first place, bringing them back to Asgard.

It appeared that their arrival had been seen by Heimdall for there were a handful of guards waiting for them where they appeared in the throne room, Odin and Frigga, however were not there though Thor knew they wouldn't be. They would not want to see their 'son' like he was now, muzzled and fresh from battle, no, they would need time to gather themselves, to ensure they could face Loki knowing all that he had done for surely Heimdall had told them of the battle as well, of all that he and Athena had learned while on Earth.

Thor stood, stone faced, as the manacle were removed from his and Athena's wrists and Loki was led off to the dungeons to be held there till his 'trial' could take place, knowing he and Athena would have to testify against him if it came to it. He stared after Loki till the doors he disappeared through closed before he let out a long breath.

"It will be alright Thor," Athena told him, placing a hand on his arm.

He looked at her, "Will you…stay with me, Athena?" he asked her, "Stand at my side when the trial comes? I…I don't think I can…"

"I will never leave you Thor," she told him, "If…" she added, a hint of playfulness in her voice to try and cheer him, "You swear a warrior's oath that you shall not get locked in any more glass cages and leave ME."

Thor let out a small chuckle at that, reaching out to wind his arms around her, tugging her closer, "You've no idea how relieved I was," he murmured.

"Relieved for what?" she shook her head.

"You survived," he murmured, "You're still here, still with me," he looked at her with such intensity in his eyes that she felt her breath catch in her throat.

"And you found your way back to me," she agreed, a small nod of her head joining her words.

"I love you, Athena," he told her earnestly, "Seeing Loki harming you, being unable to stop him, fearing he had killed you…" he shook his head.

"I'm still here Thor," she reassured him, "And I will not be going anywhere anytime soon. For as long as you need me, I am here."

"Then you should prepare for an eternity," he warned her, though there was a serious note in his voice, "I never want to be without you Athena, not ever. Fearing I had lost you…I don't ever want to lose you."

Athena looked into his eyes, sensing something more to his words than she knew he was willing to say aloud. He was being genuine and serious, he wanted her to be with him forever, at his side, as his equal. He…he wasn't proposing to her, he wasn't asking her to wed him and be queen as well as advisor, but he…he was making their relationship much more serious than it had been. Before it had been easy, it had been new and exciting and playful and full of passion but with a thought of more serious notions being a good distance away from speaking of. Now though, nearly having lost each other, she could see that it was forcing the more serious aspects to the forefront. Their relationship, depending on this moment, would become more official than before, a more serious courtship of sorts, one that truly would likely lead to a betrothal or proposal of some sort. And he was leaving it up to her to determine if she wanted that to happen, if she wanted it to become THAT serious.

She smiled, "I don't want to lose you either," she admitted, "I have…never felt for another what I feel for you Thor," she looked into his eyes, "No one has gotten to my heart the way you have and I…I know that means that what we are and what we have is something…I can't describe," she laughed a bit at that, to think SHE had no words, "I know it means something and a warrior," she stepped closer, moving her arms around his neck and leaning in, "Never ignores their instincts."

And with that she closed the distance between them and kissed him firm on the lips, grinning into it as she felt his arms wind more tightly around her, feeling him starting to smile into it as well. The battle had been fierce and the truths they learned terrible, what Thor had lost in Loki would never be recovered but she hoped that, perhaps, what he was gaining in her might be something that would make up for that. It would be a challenge, she knew, there would be many more trying times to come.

But neither of them were the sort to walk away from a challenge and this one, well, it was shaping up to have the largest rewards of all.

To be continued…in…Strategy!

A/N: I'm so sad it's over :'( But...we'll be getting the next story in only a few hours! ^-^ Yay! I really wanted to put the small moment where Athena's talking to Coulson in there. Just because I hinted at the fact that she knew he was alive and I felt like she would seek him out and just want to check/feel responsible that he was harmed because of helping her :)

Just wanted to say thank you guys too! To everyone who's read/reviewed/favorited/followed/anything this story. You guys are so amazing and I'm so happy you've been enjoying the story so far :) I hope I'll be able to keep it coming in the next story too :) Strategy will be found under the Thor Movie section and not the Avengers one ;)

Last note, I hope this chapter helped clear up any concerns about the torture being a fangirl's 'excuse' to not make Loki the true villain ;) I think my stories out deeply and I do things for a reason, I put the notion and possibility of torture in here for a reason. My reasoning was that...it would hurt Thor more and be the shock he needed to see that Loki had completely become a villain here. Thor, being Loki's brother, (and Athena knowing how important Loki was to Thor) wanted there to be a _hope_ for an excuse, that Loki was manipulated/tricked/forced/controlled because when that was shattered they would not ever dare to hope they could save Loki again :( Those moments where the torture was brought up were from Athena's POV, and she _wanted_ it to be true for that reason :( Even _if_ it was true that was tortured, the fact that it didn't affect him would force them to realize that all that Loki had done was his_ choice _and torn their hope away:( Thor wanted his brother back, he wanted an excuse/reason to believe he could save his little brother, and finding out that the madness and torture hadn't done anything made him realize his brother was dead and just the Jotun/monster was left :( I hope this chapter helped explain how I intended the 'torture' idea to go here and that it helped clear up any bias/fangirling worries ;)

The torture was never an excuse for Loki...it was always a means to shatter Thor's illusion that his brother would ever come back and force him to realize Loki was truly a monster here }:)

Some notes on reviews...

I actually have it on my profile the stories for 2014 and the ones I plan to do in the future :) But for 2014, I'll be posting a Big Bang Theory story (Sheldon/OC), a Star Wars (Anakin/OC), a Lord of the Rings (Aragorn/OC), and 2 Doctor Who series (Doctor/OC) one with an OC that starts in Series 7 and one with an OC that starts in Series 5...and then picking up my 4 other DW stories once Series 8 airs :) I'll be posting one of the Doctor Who ones after the Dark World version for Athena. I have a few new stories and new OCs to come, including some for Marvel :) I'm not sure if I'd do a Banner/OC, I haven't seen much fo the Hulk movies so I can't say just yet :)


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